Seems like Easter wasn’t much of a break for the Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drug with the latest resignation of yet another member, Eric Carlin on the 1st of April, and the imminent controversy surrounding the Council’s chairman Prof Iversen’s link to a group campaigning against anti-drug regulations.

Resignation of Eric Carlin

As the seventh member of the ACMD to resign following the sacking of Professor David Nutt, Eric Carlin has expressed how unhappy he is with how the Council operates. He claims that the Home Secretary went ahead with press conferences on plans to ban mephedrone when the Council had not considered their own recommendations. Mr Carlin also criticises the Council’s approach as facilitating the potential criminalisation of increasing numbers of people, rather than getting to the root cause. Read Eric Carlin’s blog here about his resignation including his resignation letter to the Home Secretary.

ACMD’s Professor Iversen’s link to controversial charity

As the chief adviser to the Government on the misuse of drugs, it has been claimed that Prof Iversen is listed as a key adviser of the Beckley Foundation, a controversial charity committed to legalising drugs under the guise of ‘studying consciousness and altered states’. Ann Widdecombe (former Tory Home Office Minister) has called for the resignation of Prof Iversen as head of the ACMD and said: ‘The fact that he was prepared to lend his name to a body pushing for softer policies on drug use means he should not be advising the Government on this issue’.  Prof Iversen claims he no longer has anything to do with the organisation but its website still lists him as one of its scientific advisers.

As the ACMD’s successor to sacked advisor, Prof David Nutt, Prof Les Iversen and his team have conducted its first undertaking being the review on cocaine.  There has been a five-fold increase in users since 1996 and use among those in age bracket 16-59 has increased to 3% from 0.6% in the same period.  Iversen has told Home Secretary Alan Johnson that cocaine should remain in Class A due to its harmful effects.