The Government has responded to the e-petition to reinstate Professor David Nutt as the Chairman of the ACMD.  Read here for their response issued on Monday this week and now published on the official site of the Prime Minister’s Office.

The government is set to prioritise in finding out more about the dangers of using the substance, mephedrone which has become the fourth most popular substance in an academic survey undertaken by magazine, Mixmag. Its advisory panel has written to the Home Secretary warning that substances like these could have “serious public health implications.”

To get round the Medicines Act, mephedrone is widely sold online as a “plant food” (even though it has no acknowledged use as a fertiliser), and can be snorted, taken in pill form, mixed with a drink or injected (although rare). Users have described the effect as similar to that of cocaine and ecstasy. The results of the survey have revealed:

51% of mephedrone users suffered from headaches; 43% from heart palpitations; 27% from nausea; and 15% from cold or blue fingers.

It will be interesting to see comments from the newly formed body, the Independent Council of Drug Harms (formed by ex-head of the ACMD Professor Nutt).

The government’s former chief drugs adviser, David Nutt, has set up a new drug advisory panel independent of the official Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).  The Independent Council of Drug Harms, Prof. Nutt has stated, “will take over that particular role of the ACMD” and will provide independent scientific evidence about the impact of drugs.  Several former and current ACMD members join the new body which now consists of approximately 20 specialists.

Class C Ketamine is the latest drug to get a bad press (bladder removal is one of the extreme side-effects), adding to the speculation that it’ll be uprgraded to a Class B drug… a move supported by the ex-head of the ACMD, Professor Nutt.

The future of the UK Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) hangs in the balance after very public loggerheads. In a nutshell: its chairman (Professor Nutt) is sacked by the Home Secretary (Alan Johnson) for ‘campaigning against government’ by saying that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than drugs. This prompts two more of its 30 strong council to then resign in protest. The remainder will meet on November 10^th to discuss if it’s possible to continue advising a government that dismisses scientific evidence so readily.