This is what the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 currently says about the make-up of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD):

1.1 The members of the Advisory Council, of whom there shall be not less than twenty, shall be appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with such organisations as he considers appropriate, and shall include:
(a) in relation to each of the activities specified in sub-paragraph 1.2 below, at least one person appearing to the Secretary of State to have wide and recent experience of that activity; and
(b) persons appearing to the Secretary of State to have wide and recent experience of social problems connected with the misuse of drugs.

1.2 The activities referred to in sub-paragraph 1.1a above are:
(a) the practice of medicine (other than veterinary medicine);
(b) the practice of dentistry;
(c) the practice of veterinary medicine;
(d) the practice of pharmacy;
(e) the pharmaceutical industry;
(f) chemistry other than pharmaceutical chemistry.

1.3 The Secretary of State shall appoint one of the members of the Advisory Council to be chairman of the Council.

This is what the text will read if the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill which is currently in Parliament is passed*:

1.1 The members of the Advisory Council, of whom there shall be not less than twenty, shall be appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with such organisations as he considers appropriate.

1.2 The Secretary of State shall appoint one of the members of the Advisory Council to be chairman of the Council.

Notice the difference? Gone is the requirement for any sort of scientific expertise amongst committee members, and the Home Secretary is free to appoint anyone that he/she considers appropriate.

This change seems to be motivated solely by the fact that the Government doesn’t like the advice it’s been receiving. David Nutt was sacked in October 2009 after stating that more people die every year falling from horses than from taking ecstacy†. Six members of the council have resigned since, citing the Government’s failure to heed its advice and its employment of a decision-making process “unduly based on media and political pressure.”

This bill allows the Home Secretary to replace scientists with sycophants, and should be defeated. An Advisory Council should be made-up of well-qualified advisors.

* The changes to the ACMD are outlined at the bottom of page 108 of the bill.
† In the UK approximately 30 people die per year from conditions linked to taking ecstacy and about 100 per year in horse-riding accidents.