The row between the UK government and its advisory council on the misuse of drugs has deepened, with the resignations of three further members, leaving it without some of the representatives required by statute for it to do its work.

Their resignations bring to five the total who have quit in protest at the sacking of the council’s head, David Nutt. It is now short of the representatives from pharmacy, the pharmaceutical industry, and chemistry, which are required by the Misuse of Drugs Act, and is likely to face reluctance on the part of scientists to take up the unpaid posts.

Professor Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist from Imperial College, London, and Bristol University, was dismissed by …