Drugs Chief Under Fire for Saying Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol

Evening Standard - London › October 29, 2009

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Summary

THE Government's chief drugs adviser was expected to be facing calls to resign today after criticising ministers for not reclassifying ecstasy, LSD and cannabis as less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes.

Professor David Nutt, who heads the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, accused former home secretary Jacqui Smith of "devaluing" and "distorting" scientific research after she changed cannabis back to Class B. The academic has called for drugs to be ranked by a "harm" index, with alcohol coming fifth behind cocaine, heroin, barbiturates, and methadone while tobacco should rank ninth, ahead of cannabis, LSD and ecstasy.

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Drugs Chief Under Fire for Saying Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol

In a briefing paper for a lecture at King's College, London,...

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