New resignation over mephedrone ruling
Friday, 2 April 2010 12:00 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
Another member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has resigned, adding another chapter to the beleaguered group's problematic relationship with government.
Eric Carlin, former chairman of the English Drug Education Forum, said he was disillusioned with the way the decision to ban mephedrone was taken due to media and political pressure.
In his resignation letter to home secretary Alan Johnson, Mr Carlin wrote: "We had little or no discussion about how our recommendation to classify this drug would be likely to impact on young people's behaviour.
"Our decision was unduly based on media and political pressure.
"As well as being extremely unhappy with how the ACMD operates, I am not prepared to continue to be part of a body which, as its main activity, works to facilitate the potential criminalisation of increasing numbers of young people."
He is the seventh member of the ACMD to quit since the sacking of Professor David Nutt, over his views on cannabis reclassification.
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