Government rejects advice to downgrade ecstasy

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - The government rejected advice from its own narcotics advisory body on Wednesday to lower the penalties for possessing the dance drug ecstasy, raising questions over the relevance of the expert panel.

Home Office Minister Alan Campbell said the government was unwilling to run the risk of increasing use of the drug, which is directly responsible for around 15 deaths a year.

"The government will not send a signal to young people and the public in general that we take ecstasy less seriously," he added.

But Liberal Democrat science spokesman Evan Harris said the government had snubbed the 31-member Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs without good reason.

"Scientists must now seriously question whether it is worth them giving up their time to help a government that not only rejects the message, but attacks the messenger," he said.

Last year, the government rejected the council's recommendation to keep cannabis as a class C drug and went on to raise it to Class B on fears of the effects of strong "skunk" varieties.

And last week the government forced its chairman David Nutt to apologise for saying that taking ecstasy was no more dangerous than horse-riding.

Nutt said on Wednesday he was disappointed the government had rejected the recommendation to lower ecstasy to a class B drug from class A, a ranking that currently puts it on a level with heroin and crack cocaine.