Politics 'contaminates drugs science'

POLITICS has been allowed to "contaminate" science and the work of government advisers, a leading medical journal said yesterday.

The Lancet strongly criticised the "rushed" decision to ban the drug mephedrone after "political and media pressure".

It also highlighted a report on tackling alcohol and tobacco abuse by young people that was "conveniently buried" by the furore over mephedrone.

The editorial focused on the troubled recent history of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) which issues scientific advice to ministers.

In October 2009 the Council's former chairman, Professor David Nutt, was sacked for criticising government policy on cannabis and ecstasy. Five other members quit in protest.

Now the ACMD, led by new interim chairman Professor Les Iverson, is embroiled in more controversy over mephedrone.

The former "legal high" drug was given Class B status and banned after being linked to 25 deaths. Yet the ACMD report that recommended a ban said there was no scientific evidence that the drug caused the deaths.

"Alarmingly, the report, which was only a draft, was still being discussed by the ACMD when Iverson rushed out of the meeting to brief Home Secretary Alan Johnson of their recommendation in time for a press briefing," the Lancet said.