UK: Les Iversen takes over as head of cannabis row panel

[lequebecfume]

Les Iversen takes over as head of cannabis row panel

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46642000/jpg/_46642997_nutt_bbcnew.jpg
Prof Nutt was sacked after criticising the reclassification of cannabis

A retired Oxford professor is to take over as chairman of the government's drugs advisory panel, the Home Office is due to announce later.

Pharmacology specialist Les Iversen will replace David Nutt, who was sacked by the home secretary last October for "lobbying" against government policy.

Alan Johnson accused Prof Nutt of "crossing a line" into politics.
He is now setting up an independent drugs panel to rival the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Since David Nutt's sacking, Professor Iversen has chaired the council's meetings.

Recreational drugs

During his career, the professor's research has focused on the effects of drugs on the brain.

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.

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.

Prof Nutt, the government's chief drugs adviser, was sacked for calling cannabis less harmful than alcohol and nicotine, and saying it was 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.
Professor Iversen's predecessor, David 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.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8455642.stm

[cmoneyspruce]

Did you hear about Nutt making the alchoholess alchohol? I think its a relative of Valium or something but no getting wrecked past a certain point and no hangover... hmmm. As for Iverson I've been reading that he is also liberal in the same sense that Nutt was. He could be the most liberal on the planet and it wouldn't matter because I'm sure he knows if he speaks up he's gone. Just a satisfying puppet to keep the island nation happy. Hope he proves me wrong!

[lequebecfume]

Replacement for Professor David Nutt said cannabis should be legalised

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.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 2:18PM GMT 13 Jan 2010

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.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6981863/Replacement-for-Professor-David-Nutt-said-cannabis-should-be-legalised.html