"More experts could quit" over drugs sacking

By Stefano Ambrogi

LONDON (Reuters) - The government's former chief narcotics adviser, sacked last week for campaigning against its drug policy, warned on Monday that more of his colleagues might resign in protest.

Professor David Nutt was accused of overstepping the mark and straying into politics by criticising the government's tough approach to cannabis, ecstasy and LSD.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson dismissed Nutt, head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), after he said the drugs were less harmful than alcohol.

Johnson told the House of Commons on Monday he asked Nutt to resign after he had "lost confidence" in him as principal adviser.

"I asked Professor Nutt to resign...not because of the work of the council but because of his failure to recognise that as chair ... his role is to advise rather than criticise government policy on drugs," he said.

Meanwhile, it emerged on Monday that the Home Office had ordered a review of the council on October 13.

Nutt says the work of the ACMD is no longer tenable and argues that many of its members, who offer unpaid independent advice, back him.

On Sunday, two members of the panel resigned in protest at his removal.