Published 4 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4563
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4563

News

Scientists want more protection after government adviser is sacked

¹ BMJ

Scientists are calling on the UK government to agree a new statement of principles to protect the independence of its scientific advisers after the home secretary, Alan Johnson, sacked David Nutt as his chief adviser on drug misuse.

Mr Johnson told parliament that he had "lost confidence" in Professor Nutt, a leading expert on the relative risk of different drugs, after he publicly criticised the government’s decision to reclassify cannabis from class C to the more serious class B.

The sacking, and Mr Johnson’s assertion that Professor Nutt was "campaigning" for a change in government policy, caused a media furore, and the home secretary was forced to explain his actions to MPs. Two other members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which Professor Nutt chaired, resigned in protest at his dismissal.

The remaining council members, who have written to Mr Johnson voicing their concerns and asking for an urgent face to face meeting, are to decide what further action to take at their next meeting on 11 November. Mr Johnson is expected to meet them on that day.

The row has led to fears that scientists who give their time free of charge to advise the government on a range of issues will now be less willing to serve, depriving ministers of the best evidence based advice.

A group of scientists including Colin Blakemore, former chief executive of the Medical Research Council, are drafting a statement of principles that they hope advisory councils and other science bodies will agree. It is expected to oblige scientists to respect confidentiality and to make it clear they are not speaking for the government but to leave them free to speak in their personal and academic capacity.

The statement is expected to be agreed by the end of this week and could be used by members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs when they meet the home secretary.

Mr Johnson sacked Professor Nutt after comments he made last July in an academic lecture for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College London were published in a pamphlet that was press released last week. In the lecture Professor Nutt said that tobacco and alcohol were more harmful than cannabis, ecstasy, and LSD and criticised the former home secretary, Jacqui Smith, for using the "precautionary principle" in reclassifying cannabis from class C to class B.

In his statement to MPs Mr Johnson accused Mr Nutt of not complying with the existing code of practice for scientific advisers. But Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, insisted in a letter to the home secretary that both the lecture and the pamphlet complied with the code of conduct, which allows advisers to speak freely as long as they make it clear they are speaking personally and not in their role as a panel member.

Mr Garside said that the lecture and pamphlet made it clear that Professor Nutt was speaking as chair of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London.

Mr Johnson told MPs that Jacqui Smith had made clear her displeasure to Professor Nutt on a previous occasion when he claimed in a medical journal article that taking ecstasy was less dangerous than riding a horse.

Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4563

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See Personal View, BMJ 2009;339:b4564, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4564.

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