Back in October, the British government fired its chief drug adviser, Prof. David Nutt, for saying that marijuana is less dangerous than many legal drugs and that British laws should be changed to reflect this reality. Many other members of the United Kingdom’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs resigned in protest
Then this week, Les Iversen, a former pharmacology professor at the University of Oxford, was announced as Nutt’s interim replacement as the council’s chairman. And guess what? He’s…
On Sunday, the British newspaper The Observer wrote, "In June 1971, US President Richard Nixon declared a 'war on drugs.' Drugs won." Read the rest here.
British scientists warn increasing hostility toward scientific evidence that contradicts political agendas could hinder the collaborative relationship policy and science enjoys in Britain, the Guardian reported yesterday.
Last November, the British government ignored the advice of its Scientific Advisory Board and moved marijuana into a more dangerous class of drugs, a move described by top scientists at the time as "a sad departure from the welcome trend … of public policy following expert scientific…
Update to Bruce's post yesterday about the British government's effort to increase penalties for small marijuana violations over the objections of its scientific advisors: In what was really an expected formality, the House of Lords approved the move.
As Bruce pointed out, with its relatively good track record of science-based marijuana policy, it's difficult to imagine why Britain would suddenly want to ape our politically and ideologically driven approach. After all, superstition and zealotry are…
Forces of common sense are making a last-ditch stand in Britain today. Earlier this year, the British government announced its intention to "upgrade" marijuana from "Class C," the lowest category of illicit drugs, where it's been since 2004, to "Class B": drugs considered more dangerous and subject to stiffer penalties. The move directly contradicted the advice of the government's official scientific advisers, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Today, a last-ditch effort to delay the change…
