Professor David Nutt, who was sacked as a Government drugs policy advisor in 2009 gave a very frank interview about his experiences to Victoria Gill, as part of Policy Week 2015. Here Sam Wood reports on the conversation. Prof Nutt says he went into his Government role optimistic that he would be able to change […]
Why do politicians sometimes ignore scientific advice?
Respected scientist Sir Paul Nurse recently expressed his distress that politicians sometimes “ignore” scientific evidence. Here is a slightly different take on the issue from the perspective of a recent senior civil servant. At one level, of course, I agree with Sir Paul. I can’t prove it but I suspect that many if not most […]
Drug policy: Time for change?
After four people are suspected to have been killed by tablets that may have been thought to be ecstasy over the festive season, Michael Donmall, of the National Drug Evidence Centre at The University of Manchester writes about the dangers of keeping recreational drugs illegal and calls for controlled availability of tested products. Recent deaths […]