New drugs chief Les Iversen said cannabis 'safer'

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Tenchi

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New drugs chief Les Iversen said cannabis 'safer'

A retired professor who said cannabis was one of the "safer" recreational drugs has taken over as chairman of the government's drugs advisory panel.
Pharmacology specialist Les Iversen replaced David Nutt, who was sacked by the home secretary last October for "lobbying" against government policy.

Prof Iversen said: "I think cannabis for the time being is past history."
He said much more active attention was currently being paid to so-called legal highs such as mephedrone.

Last year, Home Secretary Alan Johnson accused Prof Nutt of "crossing a line" into politics.

Prof Nutt is setting up an independent drugs panel to rival the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).
Since that sacking, Prof Iversen, formerly of Oxford, has chaired the council's meetings.

Following his appointment, Prof Iversen told the BBC: "I'm not the drug adviser to the government, I'm a spokesman for a large group of people on the advisory council, only a few of whom are scientists."

Recreational drugs

In an article in 2003, he wrote that cannabis had been "incorrectly" classified as a dangerous drug for nearly 50 years and said it was one of the "safer" recreational drugs.
During his career, the professor's research has focused on the effects of drugs on the brain.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the appointment of Prof Iversen appeared to be an attempt by the Home Office to restore calm to the advisory council after a turbulent few months.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: "The ACMD makes a valued and important contribution to our understanding of drugs and their harms. I'm pleased Prof Iversen will be bringing his experience to the role of interim chair.

"The council's work continues, including a forthcoming assessment on the harms of the so-called 'legal high' mephedrone, following on from our control of GBL, BZP and others late last year."

Prof Nutt was sacked for calling cannabis less harmful than alcohol and nicotine, and saying it had been upgraded to Class B for political reasons.
Five other members on the panel subsequently resigned.

More vacancies

In the weeks that followed, the home secretary tried to smooth over the row by making a number of concessions to his drugs advisers.

Mr Johnson agreed to write to panel members to explain any decisions that went against their advice. He also said he would not pre-judge decisions on drug classification ahead of the committee issuing advice.

However, work on the advisory council is understood to have "slowed down" and a number of meetings were postponed in the wake of the row.
The Home Office has since said it could take two to three months to fill the vacancies left by the other resignations.

Prof Nutt will hold the first meeting of his new Independent Council on Drug Harms on Thursday.
He said five current members of the government's panel have agreed to attend.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8455642.stm
 
So they got rid of a guy who said that the classification of weed was incorrect and should be lower, only to replace him with a guy that says the exact same thing. Genius move there, lol.
 
Professor David Nutt replaced by Professor Les Iverson on drug panel

Replacement for Professor David Nutt said cannabis should be legalised - Telegraph, 13/01/10.
A former Oxford academic chosen to replace sacked Professor David Nutt as the head of the government's drugs advisory panel once called for the legalisation of cannabis.

Professor Les Iverson, a retired pharmacologist, has in the past mirrored Professor Nutts comments that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco and even called for the drug to be made legal.

He said: "Cannabis should be legalised not just decriminalised because it is comparatively less dangerous than legal drugs alcohol and tobacco."

Yesterday Professor Iverson played down any potential clashes with Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, by suggesting the debate had moved on - and that he had changed his mind since his speech at a dinner in 2003 hosted by the Beckley Foundation, a charity in favour of regulating rather than banning drug use.

He said: "I don't remember saying that, it's certainly not my position now. That was a view I had in 2003 and a great deal has happened since then.

"We have now to confront the more potent forms of cannabis. We have the new evidence that arose since 2003 linking cannabis to psychiatric illness.

"I think it's quite free for a scientist to change his mind when faced with new facts."

Prof Iverson, who has sat on the committee for five years, said much more active attention was currently being paid to so-called legal highs such as mephedrone.

"I'm not the drug adviser to the government, I'm a spokesman for a large group of people on the advisory council, only a few of whom are scientists."

In October, Mr Johnson sacked Prof Nutt for "crossing a line" into politics. Prof Nutt, who is setting up a rival think-tank, said he was simply reiterating scientific fact.

Five other members on the panel subsequently resigned in protest and have yet to be replaced.
Professor Colin Blakemore, the neuroscientist, said Prof Iverson, a friend and former colleague, was conservative by nature but nevertheless shared the same views as his predecessor.

"I see no reason that Les Iverson's view on ecstasy deviates from the conclusions of the ACMD in that it should be classified as B rather than A.

"Similarly on cannabis that should have remained at C rather than being downgraded."
In the weeks that followed Prof Nutt's sacking, the home secretary tried to smooth over the row by making a number of concessions to his drugs advisers.

Mr Johnson agreed to write to panel members to explain any decisions that went against their advice.
He also said he would not prejudge decisions on drug classification ahead of the committee issuing advice.


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Last edited by a moderator:
Yerg said:
Sorry 7zark7 didn't see it had already been posted.
Click to expand...

No worries dude - neither did I until now! :) The articles are on the same subject but slightly different, so worth a merge, I think... ;)
 
I wish I shared your outlook on that slimvictor, but UK drug policy is by and large based upon Tabloid press scare tactics. They're more likely to listen to the sensationalist cries of the red-tops than they are to their own panel of advisors. This has been proven in the past with the reclassification of weed from class C to class B.
 
he's changed his mind now. said we have to attack the dreaded skunk varieties to save the children.
 
So, they replace Nutt, who was willing to speak out broadly and quite intensely about weed being less dangerous than [so n so], with someone who seems much more timid and will just say "well I don't see cannabis as a dangerous drug" - basically swapping a more powerful figure for an unknown.

In the end: Government wins :\ :|
 
monstanoodle said:
So, they replace Nutt, who was willing to speak out broadly and quite intensely about weed being less dangerous than [so n so], with someone who seems much more timid and will just say "well I don't see cannabis as a dangerous drug" - basically swapping a more powerful figure for an unknown.

In the end: Government wins :\ :|
Click to expand...

Indeed. It seems they have got their (yes) man...
 
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