Exciting news: I passed my viva with flying colours! Huzzah huzzah, I can haz PhD.
But since this blog is more about bits and bobs that I find interesting rather than my life's events (I have lj to detail all that), I am currently irked by this:
Absolutely outrageous. Prof Nutt isn't saying anything that hasn't been said by many other scientists, medical professionals and those involved in drug rehabilitation and social work. In 2004, cannabis was downgraded from Class B to Class C. But this didn't last long - it was put back into Category B in 2007 - against the advice of official advisors who had presumably been hired to determine whether this was a good idea or not. But who needs SCIENCE or LOGIC when there is a fun IDEOLOGICAL WAR ON DRUGS to wage?
But since this blog is more about bits and bobs that I find interesting rather than my life's events (I have lj to detail all that), I am currently irked by this:
The UK's chief drugs adviser has been sacked by Home Secretary Alan Johnson, after criticising government policies.
Professor David Nutt, head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, criticised the decision to reclassify cannabis to Class B from C.
He accused ministers of devaluing and distorting evidence and said drugs classification was being politicised.
The home secretary said he had "lost confidence" in his advice and asked him to step down.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is the UK's official drugs advisory body.
Following his sacking, Prof Nutt told the BBC he stood by his claim that cannabis should not be a Class B drug, based on its effects.
He described his sacking as a "serious challenge to the value of science in relation to the government".
Absolutely outrageous. Prof Nutt isn't saying anything that hasn't been said by many other scientists, medical professionals and those involved in drug rehabilitation and social work. In 2004, cannabis was downgraded from Class B to Class C. But this didn't last long - it was put back into Category B in 2007 - against the advice of official advisors who had presumably been hired to determine whether this was a good idea or not. But who needs SCIENCE or LOGIC when there is a fun IDEOLOGICAL WAR ON DRUGS to wage?
