The real problem – and it may be quibbling over details – is not that the government ignored the drugs advice, but it’s that they failed to offer any other explanations other than health issues as to why cannabis has been reclassified as a Class B drug.
If Alan Johnson had been able to find a convincing reason why it should have been reclassified there would be no reason why he shouldn’t have. As it is though, he hasn’t and Gordon Brown has crossed the line in pontificating about the science, which he doesn’t understand
In 2007 as Brown came into government saying that cannabis in the form of ‘skunk’ was lethal, something that Nutt denies completely. Nutt was never saying that cannabis isn’t harmful or should be legalised, rather that because the large majority do not have any harm caused to them by it that it isn’t as dangerous as alcohol or tobacco.
Over the years various governments have reclassified and reclassified over and over again cannabis to no effect. The government is legally bound to consult and take into account the council’s ideas, clearly in this case they have undermined its authority and broken the terms of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs act and in this case they have thought that they can pronounce on science better than real scientists.
This whole thing is a complete mess caused by policy that is patently wrong, Nutt hasn’t criticised them for ignoring their advice, he and many others are criticising the government for their policy making lacking any kind of evidence.
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