UK Drugs Advisor Nutt sacked for being honest about marijuana
Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 4:22 pm | By: Radical Russ
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s top drug adviser was fired Friday after saying that marijuana, Ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol.
David Nutt’s comments have embarrassed the British government, which toughened the penalties for possessing marijuana earlier this year over the protests of many prominent British scientists.
In later comments to BBC radio’s “PM” program, Nutt accused British Prime Minister Gordon Brown of making “completely irrational statements” about the dangerousness of marijuana.
“I’m not prepared to mislead the public about the harmfulness of drugs like cannabis and Ecstasy,” he said.
Although Nutt’s views have long been public knowledge, the government seems to have been angered by a recent lecture for the Center for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College in London during which Nutt accused former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of “distorting and devaluing” researchers’ work.
Honesty… is such a lonely word… everyone is so untrue.
It’s getting tougher and tougher for governments to conceal the plain fact that now a majority of people recognize: marijuana is safer than alcohol. We’re tired of being harassed, locked up, and lives ruined because we prefer not to get hangovers when we party. We’re tired of every other commercial on the telly being for beer and boner pills, then being told our pot smoking is bad for a “drug-free America”. We’re tired of being punished for using a natural substance that doesn’t make us cause wrecks, punch people, and puke on your shoes.
This news comes on the heels of our “drugs advisor”, drug czar Kerlikowske, once again saying that marijuana legalization is a “non-starter”. It’s not a surprising statement, given that Kerlikowske is mandated by law to lie about marijuana. Three cheers for David Nutt for having the stones to tell the truth based on science!
Topics: David Nutt, Gordon Brown, home secretary, Jacqui Smith, Legalization, UK
More scientists have resigned over this.
Well done indeed to Nutt for standing up for the truth.
A good man.
[...] Article on NORML [...]
Jeez, those “NuttSackers” are worse than our “Tea-Baggers”.
Advisor Nutt, why didn’t you challenge them to prove you wrong?
i still think our government had something to do with this….. maybe not everything… but a piece
Yes, you’re right: though you’d have a hell of a job proving it, the US is the root of the problem. Any nation that makes any move to re-assess the legal status of cannabis comes under intense pressure from the US to cease and desist such folly.
I’m quite sure the 2008 move to re-re-classify cannabis in the UK, having re-classified it from a more to a less dangerous category in 2004, was a direct result of US pressure, i.e. a pussy lap-dog prime minister of a fawning puppet government. You can blame us for electing a pussy and tolerating a puppet government (although this particular one was foisted on us without an election) but you can’t blame us for taking advantage of him and perpetuating the system.
It would be wrong for Americans to think they’re hated without good reason. Change your government to a form that can exist without indulging itself in orgasms of bullying! This whole mess is your fault; get yourselves sorted out!