One year ago the British Government's chief drugs adviser and head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Professor David Nutt made stoner news by having a silly last name and also publicly disagreeing with the government's decision to re-classify Cannabis as a Class B drug.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson responded to Nutt's criticism by firing him.
Nutt claimed that based on the science, his expert opinion was that Cannabis was less harmful than Alcohol or Tobacco and that the reclassification was solely for political reasons. Mr Johnson said Prof Nutt had "acted in a way that undermined the government rather than supporting its work" claiming Nut was "crossing the line" into politics.
The row caused such a fuss that it prompted 5 resignations; Clinical director Marion Walker, Dr Les King and then psychologist Dr John Marsden, chemist Simon Campbell, and pharmaceutical consultant Ian Ragan all from the ACMD.
In an even hilarious twist, his replacement, pharmacology specialist Professor Les Iversen who wrote an article in 2003, stating that that cannabis had been "incorrectly" classified as a dangerous drug for almost 50 years and said it was one of the "safer" recreational drugs, changed his tune claiming 'he had since changed his mind because of new evidence about the dangers of cannabis'.
Well Nutt has returned with a new report published in the medical journal the Lancet. Nutt and fellow former ACMD member Dr Les King founded the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs and produced a new study that shows our most dangerous drug is also our most popular and widely accepted.
The study scored each drug for harms including mental and physical damage, addiction, crime and costs to the economy and communities.
The modeling exercise concluded that heroin, crack and crystal meth, were the most harmful drugs to individuals, but alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the most harmful to society.
When the scores for both types of harm were added together, alcohol emerged as the most harmful drug, followed by heroin and crack.
Here's Nutt in your face Johnson.
Sorry I had to.
K
