So, Prof. Nutt, the guy who spoke out about how drugs should be classified, has been sacked.
Do I agree? Not sure. Whilst on one hand I can see why he said what he said, I can also understand the Home Secretary's response. Put it this way, if you employed a mechanic to fix your car and they messed with your insurance cover you'd quickly get rid.
Whilst the good professor's intentions may well have been honourable, we still elect our representatives to make such decisions as those that he has been attempting to influence through popular media.
If he were just a professor (I'm not getting into the details here) his comments would not have been received in the same way that they have as "advisor to the government." Fact. So, he has crossed a line and used his position (intentionally or not) to influence the debate.
What's got me though is the way that other members of the committee have reacted. It has taken nearly a full weekend AFTER his sacking for one resign, and then nearly a day later another has decided to resign. There are still more "considering their positions."
Aw bless, the science guys are making a stand! Right, enough of the patronising and onto the bollocking. And this is for the other advisors.
You've spent so long faffing trying to decide your allegiance and where you stand that your resignations, IF they come, are now far too late and limp wristed. If you wanted an "all out" then Friday afternoon was the time (as a union man I know this), and that boat has now sailed.
The apathy that you have shown in the meantime speaks volumes to me and many thousands of others. And as you are supposed to advise the government on drugs policy, surely that cannot be a positive thing?
So, if you are still agonising over where you stand, then do us all a favour and disappear. In a role like your's we need people with the courage of their convictions to stand up and speak out sooner rather than later about the facts to hand. In UK drugs policy there is no middle ground or room for faffing.
