Letter to my MP regarding the Home Secretary's dismissal of Prof. Nutt of the ACMD

Dear Mr. Smith,

As one of your constituents, I was disturbed to read of Prof. David
Nutt's "sacking" by the home secretary. In his letter to Prof. Nutt,
the Home Secretary writes "As chair of the ACMD you cannot avoid
appearing to implicate the Council in your comments and thereby
undermining its scientific independence". The ACMD recommended in 2008 that cannabis remains a class C drug (recommendation 3 of its report on cannabis). The Government states in its reply to the report "In reaching our decision, we have taken into account wider issues such as public perceptions and the needs and consequences for policing priorities" thus justifying its decision to reclassify cannabis as
class B.

There are several important issues at stake:
- the independence of the Government's independent advisers has been
undermined by the "sacking" and it is therefore the Government that is
undermining scientific independence, and not Prof. Nutt's comments
- it is unclear which of Prof. Nutt's comments the Home Secretary has
issue with and how these have undermined the Council's independence
- the recommendation of the Council was for cannabis to remain a class
C drug, and in ignoring the Council's recommendation, the Government
had gone against scientific advice and engaged in political posturing
- more broadly, the vacillation in decision making by the government
without further consultation regarding this issue, and seemingly for
the sole purpose of political expediency, does not reflect well on the
Government as authoritative. This may be to do with the rather rapid
turnover of Home Secretaries in recent years.

I would kindly request that you table a parliamentary question
regarding whether the Home Secretary regards his letter to Prof. Nutt
as undermining scientific independence. To my mind, if the Home
Secretary does not, he lacks significant insight into his position.

Yours sincerely,