Second drugs adviser quits post

Professor Nutt on the resignation of other members of the Advisory Council

A second adviser to the government has resigned in protest at Home Secretary Alan Johnson's sacking of his chief drugs adviser, Prof David Nutt.

Marion Walker's departure from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs came after Dr Les King's resignation.

Prof Nutt was sacked after calling cannabis less harmful than alcohol and nicotine, and saying it was upgraded to Class B for political reasons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8336884.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_abuse

Check out the scale on the wiki page

Britain has gone completely bonkers with their drug policy the last few years. Common myths that have already been proven wrong countless times are still referred to as reasons for drug control in the UK, myths like cannabis being the cause for schizophrenia or a "gateway" drug , it's like a broken record.

Drug prohibition works against itself and everybody. A regulated and taxed system would be so much more productive. It's sad that few people understand just how damaging drug prohibition is, not only in drug related things but to society as a whole.

Props to David Nutt, gets bonus points in my book, I disliked him before because he is the man behind this ridiculous table:
http://tenpercent.files.wordpr..._drugs_graph_416.gif

cannabis is a gateway drug

your fooling yourself if you believe otherwise . the only healthy amount of weed is zero

saying that alcohol & tobacco are legal , so weed should be also is a redundant argument

alcohol abuse shows that people cant be trusted with drug consumption . but that avoids the health issue

very mild alcohol consumption has health benefits . there are none with marijuana

.

hemp is a fantastic plant , we should be growing forests of it . if only to replace wood pulp in paper production .

the worst self-justifyers on the planet are drug users . you dont give drug users views any creedence when it comes to drug policy . they simply are nothing close to honest when objectivity is required . they cant even be honest about the way drug use has changed themselves / personality / mindset

Alcohol and cigarettes could also be classed as gateway drugs, how many of those who tried cannabis for the first time had already tried alcohol or cigarettes?

Cigarettes and alcohol kill more people than all other drugs combined by an order of magnitude, yet they have been legal for so long because taxation is more important than the health issues, so they remain legal. Therefore the matter is political not scientific

The people sacked or resigning from this Drugs and Advisory Council are in this position because of the lack of regard for scientific opinion.

Edit: and by the way cannabis has many medical uses, from the treatment of aids to glaucoma.

medical uses , for people who are sick

healthy people wanting to get high for whatever reasons

2 totally different things

So why do people smoke or drink?

aaaaand we have a winner, another poor and misinformed anti-drug sheep that is apparently smarter than the scientists in this article who have worked in the field all their lives.

quote:

Originally posted by Badsight-:
cannabis is a gateway drug

Cannabis is a gateway drug only if you believe faulty science. The kind of logical error "everyone who does heroin started with cannabis, so it's a gateway drug!", while in reality it's "out of the people who smoke cannabis, very rare are those who will end up on heroin".

quote:

your fooling yourself if you believe otherwise . the only healthy amount of weed is zero

that's probably why it was used medically for the last 5000 years, and why medical use of marijuana exists and is supported by a wide array of physicians and scientists and organizations like:

* The American College of Physicians
* Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
* American Academy of Family Physicians
* American Public Health Association
* American Psychiatric Association
* American Nurses Association
* British Medical Association
* Lymphoma Foundation of America
* Health Canada

But I guess you're smarter than them right?

quote:

saying that alcohol & tobacco are legal , so weed should be also is a redundant argument

Not only should cannabis be legal, other drugs should be too. A legal regulated system would do less damage than the current drug prohibition that jails kids for smoking a plant and at the same time helps fuel the largest criminal organizations in the world.

quote:

alcohol abuse shows that people cant be trusted with drug consumption

Haha what? If anything, alcohol abuse shows that very little people who actually drink are dependent, less than 1 out of 10. And that's alcohol, and addictive drug, unlike cannabis. So if anything alcohol consumption shows that consumption of drugs less or as addictive than alcohol only negatively affects a small number of people who consume them. And guess what, people who can use drugs responsibly should not lose their freedom to do so because one idiot out of 10 ruins his life with them. About half of illegal drugs are less addictive and damaging than alcohol. We all have a choice, and making informed choices is what separates us from the rest of the animals. We make choices about our personal lives, not the state for us.

quote:

very mild alcohol consumption has health benefits . there are none with marijuana

You again prove that you know nothing about the subject. This is an outright uninformed lie as marijuana has been proven time and again to have such a wide array of beneficial effects with moderate consumption that there are too many to even list.

quote:

the worst self-justifyers on the planet are drug users . you dont give drug users views any creedence when it comes to drug policy . they simply are nothing close to honest when objectivity is required . they cant even be honest about the way drug use has changed themselves / personality / mindset

Lol and you call out for objectivity yet make laughable statements cliche without providing any credible information at all. Worst self justifyers are drug ADDICTS. Responsible drug users have nothing to try to justify. Some people enjoy hot chocolate in the morning, some enjoy a cold beer after a long day's work, and some enjoy a joint after a long day's work. The only difference between them is that the guy enjoying the joint is still depraved of his basic human rights.

I smoke cannabis occasionally and take a psychedelic drug every few months for the last 4 years, I'm finishing college, have a great life, and psychedelic drugs had such a good influence on me that I cannot even begin to describe it and wouldn't take those experiences away for anything. And then an anti-drug nutjob comes here and there and starts telling me stuff about drugs as if I didn't experience them myself and can't draw my own conclusions. I read over 20 books about (mostly psychedelic) drugs, read parts of 20 books more, read websites like Erowid.org and a few drug related forums on an almost daily basis for the last 5 years, so please, cut the bull**** when I'm around, it won't work.

Almost serious drug abusers may well have start with marijuana, but it is far from the case that all marijuana users become drug abusers. I have not studied the statistics in detail, but I can say that if there were any really serious connection between the two, then half the baby boomer generation (myself included) should have been institutionalized as drug addicts.

This argument against marijuana is akin to saying that, since almost all alcoholics begin their addiction by drinking beer, beer should be made a controlled substance. At the end of the day, the acceptance of beer and the disapproval of marijuana is nothing more or less than an adopted social more.

My opinion.

As a Libertarian, sod it. Let people smoke dope and shoot heroin. Just don't make me pay for it unless they became drug users due to mental health issues.

Mongs who manage to kill themselves in mummy and daddies plush 7 bedroom house with a swimming pool annoy me to no end.

quote:

Originally posted by Aimail101:
As a Libertarian, sod it. Let people smoke dope and shoot heroin. Just don't make me pay for it unless they became drug users due to mental health issues.

Mongs who manage to kill themselves in mummy and daddies plush 7 bedroom house with a swimming pool annoy me to no end.

Well when you get a job, you will be paying for all those legal drinkers and tobacco smokers out there to get health treatment.

quote:

Originally posted by ROXunreal:
Cannabis is a gateway drug only if you believe faulty science.

no . its reality

go talk to a teenage counsellor . your view & their view will be 100% opposite

people who have to pick up the peices from drug wrecked lives do not view weed as being "harmless"

quote:

Originally posted by Badsight-:

quote:

Originally posted by ROXunreal:
Cannabis is a gateway drug only if you believe faulty science.

no . its reality

go talk to a teenage counsellor . your view & their view will be 100% opposite

people who have to pick up the peices from drug wrecked lives do not view weed as being "harmless"

better than talking to God I guess

quote:

Originally posted by Blutarski2004:

At the end of the day, the acceptance of beer and the disapproval of marijuana is nothing more or less than an adopted social more.

My opinion.

Thats about the sum of it and thats why the politically embarrasing professor got the bullet from our home secretary.

quote:

Originally posted by Aimail101

Smokers cost the NHS less on the whole.

The point I was making was about the costs of illegal drug users against those of legal drug users.

quote:

Originally posted by Dance:

quote:

Originally posted by Aimail101

Smokers cost the NHS less on the whole.

The point I was making was about the costs of illegal drug users against those of legal drug users.

Couldn't care to pay for the treatment of either. If someone mentions high risk sports, well at least those are of some value to nations in terms of competition.