Pubdate: Sun, 04 Apr 2010
Source: Sunday Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: Telegraph Group Limited 2010
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Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/437
Author: Alastair Jamieson

Government Drug Adviser Linked To Foundation That Promotes LSD

The Government's leading drugs expert is listed as an  adviser to a
charitable foundation, headed by an  aristocrat, which promotes
medicinal use of LSD.

Professor Les Iversen, the head of the official  Advisory Council on
the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), is  named on the website of the Beckley
Foundation, run by  drug liberalisation campaigner Lady Neidpath, who
has  admitted taking mind-altering substances and accepts  hers sons
my smoke cannabis.

The ACMD is at the centre of a row over the regulation  of 'legal
high' drug mephedrone - known as Meow Meow -  which the Government
recently announced it would ban.

Eric Carlin, a member of the ACMD, resigned following  the decision,
saying ministers had only acted on the  drug to appear to be "acting
tough" in the run-up to a  general election.

Professor Iversen's predecessor David Nutt, who was  sacked in
November after claiming the use of alcohol  and tobacco poses a
greater danger than cannabis and  ecstasy, is also listed as a Beckley
Foundation  adviser.

Professor Nutt believes regulation of the supply of  mephedrone, for
example by handing it out in  nightclubs, would be "safer" than an
outright ban.

Professor Iversen wrote a paper for the foundation in  2003 that
concluded alcohol was more dangerous than  cannabis, but says he has
not had anything to do with  the organisation since 2005.

He has also said he no longer holds the same views on  the dangers of
cannabis.

The Beckley Foundation has called for the  reintroduction of LSD for
medical use and has funded  clinical trials to study its effects on
the human  brain.

It has also urged the lifting of criminal convictions  for use or
possession of cannabis.

Lady Neidpath told the Mail on Sunday: "We don't meet,  but Professor
Iversen has never asked me to remove him  from our scientific advisers list.

"The last time I asked him to talk at one of our  seminars he said he
couldn't because of his Government  role. I completely understood.

"'He has never asked me to remove him from our advisers  list but I
suppose if people now make a great fuss  about it he may ask me to
remove his name."

Ann Widdecombe, the Tory MP and former Home Office  minister, called
on Professor Iversen to resign as head  of the ACMD.

"The fact that he was prepared to lend his name to a  body pushing for
softer policies on drug use means he  should not be advising the
Government on this issue."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Professor Iversen has  presented to
the Beckley Foundation. However, he is not  employed by them.

"Professor Iversen has publicly stated that he fully  supports the
report that the ACMD produced in April  2008 concerning its
consideration of cannabis. The ACMD  believe that cannabis is a
harmful drug and poses a  real threat to the health of those who use
it."

Other names on the list of Beckley Foundation advisers  include Andre
Tylee, Professor of Primary Care Mental  Health, at the Institute of
Psychiatry and King's  College, University of London, and Colin
Blakemore,  Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford  and
a former chief executive of the Medical Research  Council (MRC).
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