Prof Nutt: alcohol worse than heroin

Imperial professor and former government adviser David Nutt has pitted himself against current drugs classification once again by claiming that alcohol is more harmful than various illegal substances in a newly released report.

The study, published in peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet, was co-authored by Professor Nutt and provides a list of 20 drugs ranked with respect to their harm, both personal and to society in general. A wide range of topics were investigated, including the risk of addiction and crime. Findings revealed that heroin, crack and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to an individual while alcohol, heroin and crack were most harmful to others. However taking both factors into account revealed that alcohol was the most harmful drug overall. The report goes on to argue against current drug classifications, claiming that they “have little relation” to the evidence of their actual harm.

This is not the first time Professor Nutt has contradicted current government drugs legislation. He caused some controversy amongst government ministers in February 2009 when the Home Office body that he chaired suggested downgrading ecstasy from a class A to a class B drug. This followed a comparison between the risks of using the drug to those associated with horse riding. He was then sacked from his position as chief drugs adviser in October 2009, by then Home Secretary Alan Johnson, after suggesting, in a similar fashion to the latest report, that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs.

Following his dismissal, Professor Nutt sought to continue his research unhindered by governmental influence, forming the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs which seeks to offer "impartial objective information on drugs and drug harms to the public" but "free from political pressures".

At the time of his dismissal last year, Professor Nutt was highly critical of politicians who he accused of misrepresenting research in order to manipulate drugs legislation. When asked whether he believed that the new coalition government would be more accepting of the latest findings, especially after the recent government budget freeze for science, Professor Nutt, speaking to Felix, said, “I think so. The Liberal Democrats have always wanted an independent committee” before adding that, “the Tories are more drug-experienced than old Labour”.

Claims against the findings have been made to the BBC by a spokesman for the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, who argues that, “Professor Nutt and his colleagues risk switching people off from considering the real issues and the real action that is needed to tackle alcohol misuse”. In response to this, Professor Nutt told Felix that the association is “running scared. They can’t argue with the science so they are trying deflection.”

When asked about the report itself and how the ready availability of alcohol was taken into account and what effect this had on social harm, Professor Nutt stated that, “most of the harms to others are affected by availability”.

This debate arrives as Imperial College Union launches a new website, yourlimits.co.uk, that seeks to advise students on the potential risks associated with drug and alcohol use. Ravi Pall, Deputy President (Finance & Services), explained to Felix the reasoning behind the creation of the website: “We created the Limits website as an additional tool to raise the awareness of potential situations students may encounter.”

“We see this being particularly useful for new students, who may not have been exposed to the culture created by others. It provides helpful advice for students, and will be heavily tied into the marketing for our new night-club, bars and ents program.”

It remains to be seen whether such a willingness to educate students on the risks of alcohol will tempt Professor Nutt to have a pint in the newly opened FiveSixEight.