PERILS OF ADVISING ON DRUG POLICY

A call to reinstate Professor Nutt

Sir, I was dismayed by the events leading up to David Nutt's dismissal
as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. It is very
disturbing to find, towards the end of my lengthy career in drug abuse
research, that the Government places so little value on scientific
evidence. During the past 40 years I have seen many decisions by
Governments with which I disagreed, but not a single one of them
motivated me to denounce it in the media.

The Home Secretary expected that Professor Nutt would not contradict
the views of the Government when presenting invited lectures at
world-leading universities. And yet Professor Nutt is one of the
leading international experts in the field. He has published several
hundred peer-reviewed articles in the biomedical literature, is the
editor of an international scientific journal, is a former president
of the British Association for Psychopharmacology and will be the next
president of the European College of Neuropsycho-pharmacology. After
asking the ACMD to provide advice, the Government has ignored that
advice and penalised Professor Nutt for expressing his expert opinion.

It is not surprising that another member of the ACMB has resigned. All
scientists who work without pay to advise the Government must surely
be considering their positions. After this unjustified dismissal, it
will be hard to find a replacement with comparable expertise and
stature. Anyone who takes on the role risks being branded by the
scientific community as a collaborator with a Government that has no
respect for expertise. I call upon Alan Johnston to reinstate
Professor Nutt.

Ian Stolerman

Emeritus Professor of Behavioural Pharmacology,

Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London