HOME SECRETARY JACQUI SMITH TO OPPOSE DOWNGRADING OF ECSTASY DESPITE ADVICE
FROM DRUG EXPERTS

Jacqui Smith is on a collision course with the Government's drug
experts over their belief that ecstasy should be downgraded.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) will publish a
report later this month which is expected to call for the rave drug -
currently blamed for around 30 deaths a year across the UK - to be
reclassified from Class A to Class B.

Home Office sources have made clear the council's review of ecstasy
was 'hugely unwelcome' and signalled that the Home Secretary will
reject any such advice.

The looming row comes just months after the Government brushed aside
the ACMD's advice on cannabis by restoring the drug from Class C to
Class B status - overruling the panel's claims that the drug is not
harmful enough.

A second clash will threaten the already shaky relationship and raise
serious doubts over whether the system of experts advising Home
Office ministers is working.

Critics have accused the Advisory Council of pushing a liberal,
pro-drugs agenda - while ACMD insiders have voiced frustration at
what they see as ministers framing drugs policies based on political
judgements rather than scientific evidence.

Senior Home Office sources said they 'fully expected' the ACMD to
call for ecstasy to be reclassified.

A spokeswoman said the ACMD's review of the law - which was not
requested by ministers - was 'hugely unwelcome'.

She added: 'Ecstasy can and does kill unpredictably. There is no such
thing as a 'safe dose'. The Government firmly believes that ecstasy
should remain a Class A drug.'

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve backed the Government's stance,
saying: 'Drugs wreck lives and destroy communities. Ecstasy is a drug
that is very damaging.'

The ACMD's chairman Professor David Nutt has suggested that the drug
causes less harm than alcohol or tobacco, and that it is probably too
highly classified.

As a Class A drug ecstasy is currently ranked alongside heroin and
cocaine. Possession is punishable with up to seven years in jail,
while dealers can be jailed for life.

Class B drugs carry a five year sentence for possession, while for
Class C the maximum punishment is two years. Dealing Class B or Class
C drugs is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

Critics have hit out at the ACMD, questioning whether it was a fit
body to advice ministers.

David Raynes of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said the panel
should be 'an impartial centre of expertise carefully weighing
evidence and public good'

But he said it appeared to be 'controlled by a few ideologues,
pursuing a broadly liberal and pro-drug, legalisation agenda.'

Mary Brett, UK spokeswoman for Europe Against Drugs, said: 'The
present ACMD includes few members who take a definite drug-prevention
stance. It is imperative that a committee of this importance needs to
be properly balanced.'

Home Office figures show illegal use of ecstasy has been broadly
stable since the mid 1990s.

Around 470,000 adults admit using the drug with in the past twelve
months - making it the third most popular illegal drug behind
cocaine, with 740,000 users, and cannabis with around 2.4million.