The NHS has responded to the recent Lancet report which claims that alcohol is more harmful than heroin.  The intial report was based on a 16 point harm measurement system.  Points were allocated based on a scoring on individual harm and the harm to others.

The NHS feel it it is important to differentiate between the effects each have.   Heroin, methamphetamines and cocaine were reported as most harmful to individuals however alcohol has more of an effect on society.  It is acknowledged that this is because it is legal and widely consumed within society.

A new report published in the the Lancet says that alcohol is “more harmful than heroin“. The study has been co-authored by David Nutt, the former chief  UK advisor on drugs.

Part of the reason given for this is the availability of it.  Professor Nutt said in a recent interview “Overall, alcohol is the most harmful drug because it’s so widely used. Crack cocaine is more addictive than alcohol but because alcohol is so widely used there are hundreds of thousands of people who crave alcohol every day, and those people will go to extraordinary lengths to get it.”

The alcohol industry has responded by saying that the majority of people had a responsible attitude to alcohol.  A spokeman said “We are talking about a minority. We need to focus policy around that minority, which is to do with education, treatment and enforcement.”

Following the heels of the Chinese factories who are working on the manufacture of new legal highs, the Home Office have announced that they were closing down the loophole that would allow this.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are planning to introduce a system of temporary bans for new emerging ‘legal highs’. Temporary bans will allow us to make substances illegal while we seek full scientific advice.”

Former government chief drugs adviser Professor David Nutt said that banning the drugs would never work. He suggested a controlled use of the substances was more effective, saying: “some regulated access, along the coffee shop model for cannabis in the Netherlands I think will have to come.”

Some drug campaigners believe that education on the risks of so-called legal highs would be a more effective way of dealing with the new wave of drugs.

So this is what ex-Chair of the ACMD, Prof Nutt, has to say about the Home Secretary’s announcement to ban mephedrone:

-       The Government’s decision was a “knee-jerk” reaction to respond to media and public hysteria;

-       The Government should have waited until the anticipated report from The European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction, due out in July;

-       He finds it “difficult to support criminalisation of people who are using drugs which are less dangerous than alcohol”;

-       A new approach needs to be taken to evaluate synthetic drugs;

-       Hopes that careful assessments are carried out of the consequences of the ban.

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.