Links: BBC News, The Guardian, The Times.
So the government has a board of scientists to advise them on drugs policy. That’s good thinking. It’s good to have some hard facts available when making policy decisions.
Unfortunately, the advice they give is at odd with that of the tabloid press, so the government ignores them. If you aren’t going to actually listen to their advice, it’s hard to see what the point of having advisors is, but fair enough. The tabloids decide how the public votes, so politicians do sometimes have to do what they say.
However, the head of the advisory board continues to give the same advice as before. In the words of Alan Johnson, "I cannot have public confusion between scientific advice and policy and have therefore lost confidence in your ability to advise me as chair of the ACMD." Or, in other words, ‘I can’t have you giving me advice that doesn’t match the policy decisions we’ve already made. So I’m afraid you’re out’.
Going against the advisory panel is one thing. But sacking them when they don’t change their advice to match your new decision? That’s just taking the piss.
If anyone’s interested, here is David Nutt’s recent report on the issue.
Your Guardian link goes to the BBC instead. Typos ahoy!
Bloody disgrace, this sacking business. Home secretary isn’t making himself look good.
Fixed.
I’m not sure there was any way the government could have handled the issue that wouldn’t have had some problems. But they seem to have decided to go for the worst possible option.