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H O U S E   OF   C O M M O N S

APPGITA - All Party Parliamentary Group for
Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction
House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

Letter from Jim Dobbin MP to
The Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP,
Home Secretary,
March 16, 2009 and her reply
March 31, 2009

Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith MP
Home Secretary

16 March 2009

Dear Jacqui,

I am writing to you as the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction on the subjects of Professor David Nutt and the classification and scheduling of the Benzodiazepine group of drugs.

On the 7 April 2003 the Benzodiazepine campaign group led by Phil Woolas MP had a meeting with the Home Office Minister Bob Ainsworth MP The outcome was that the group were invited to make a submission to the ACMD on the misuse of Benzodiazepines with a view to the Home Office considering upgrading the classification of those drugs. On the advice of the Technical Committee chaired Professor Nutt the ACMD concluded that reclassifying and/or rescheduling Benzodiazepine would be likely to be ineffective.

At the time there was concern that the Technical Committee had not given proper consideration to the submission. The ACMD minutes later confirmed that the submission and the attached evidence had not been discussed, none of the issues raised had been addressed, and no evidence, scientific or otherwise, was produced to validate the decision of the Technical Committee.

It also emerged that Professor Nutt had an undisclosed conflict of interest in had a financial arrangement with the Benzodiazepine manufacturer John Wyeth & Brother and was in receipt of an honoria and research grant from them.

Subsequently Professor Nutt has made clear his unusual views on Benzodiazepines. He believes them to be safe and suitable for long-term and life-time use, in direct opposition to Department of Health guidelines. We enclose a letter in which the Department of Health disassociate from his views on behalf of the ACMD.

We have researched Professor Nutt's views and we believe that he is a campaigner for the Pharmaceutical Industry and that he uses his position within the ACMD to further that campaign. In addition to his controversial views on cannabis and ecstasy, with which we disagree, his forthcoming programme for the ACMD is to review the classification/scheduling of LSD and the active ingredients of magic mushrooms.

Meanwhile Professor Nutt is involved in Pharma campaigns to introduce a range of new products which they describe as 'cognitive enhancers, safe recreational dugs, psychoactive substances and psychedelic psychiatric medications'. We believe Professor Nutt's aim is to weaken regulatory systems and to deregulate various substances in order to enable the Pharmaceutical Companies to manufacture and market those substances as new products. Evidence to support this can be found in the Drug Futures 2025 literature produced by the 'Foresight' think tank and on the website of the Beckley Foundation. Alternatively I can supply you with this information.

Professor Nutt now has financial arrangements with some 12 Pharmaceutical Companies which I understand involve substantial amounts; this information can be seen on the Medical Research Council website Register of Member Interests.

Since the presentation of the submission the situation on Benzodiazepines, in the UK and worldwide, has become worse. The State of Victoria in Australia has produced an in-depth scientific report on Tranquilliser misuse, of some 400 pages, available on the internet.

In view of the information above we have no confidence in Professor Nutt or the 2003 decision on Benzodiazepines by the ACMD.

My suggestions are:

  1. That Professor Nutt's position be reviewed by the Home Office.

  2. That in the future both the ACMD and its Technical Committee should have a register of members' interests and disbar any member connected to the Pharmaceutical Industry.

  3. That the ACMD conduct a proper assessment of Benzodiazepines with Benzodiazepine experts to be co-opted onto the ACMD for that assessment.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Dobbin MP

cc. Phil Woolas MP

Email Jim Dobbin MP
Email Mick Behan

From: Home Secretary, Home Office, 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF

To: Jim Dobbin MP, Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group for Involuntary
Tranquilliser Addiction, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

31 March 2009

Dear Jim,

PROFESSOR DAVID NUTT & ACMD ADVICE

Thank you for your letter of 16 March about Professor David Nutt (Chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs) and the classification and scheduling of the benzodiazepine group of drugs.

To fully address your questions it is important that I provide some background to the issue and the current situation. Benzodiazepines have been controlled as Class C drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 since 1986. The availability of benzodiazepines for legitimate medicinal use is regulated by the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (as amended).

As many controlled drugs have a legitimate medical use, regulations made under the Act - the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (as amended) - authorise and govern activities otherwise made illegal under the Act. They identify those who may legitimately handle controlled drugs and establish a regime of control. The Regulations divide controlled drugs into five schedules with Schedule 1 Controlled Drugs being subject to the greatest restrictions and Schedule 5 the least.

In 1998, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs advised the Government that all benzodiazepines should be moved from Schedule 4 into Schedule 3 (i.e. increasing the restrictions on their use) subject to due consideration of the accompanying prescription and safe custody requirements under the Regulations. In response to these concerns, the Government decided that rescheduling of benzodiazepines should be made on a case by case basis, but with additional general controls on the import, export and possession of all benzodiazepines. These controls were subsequently introduced. Consequently, most benzodiazepines are regulated under Schedule 4 Part 1, with the exception of temazepam, flunitrazepam and midazolam which are regulated under Schedule 3. Diazepam is also subject to instalment dispensing arrangements.

My officials have advised me that the Advisory Council discussed benzodiazepines, including the report from Phil Woolas, at its Technical Committee meetings in October 2003 and March 2004 and subsequently at a full Council meeting in April 2004. Following these discussions, which. in addition to the submission from Phil Woolas, included other evidence such as that from the Forensic Science Service, the then Chair of ACMD (Professor Sir Michael Rawlins) noted that the Council considered that the controls for the Schedule 4 Part I benzodiazepines were sufficient. This endorsed the Government's response to its earlier recommendation that rescheduling of benzodiazepines should be made on a case by case basis.

Regarding Professor David Nutt, you note that he has undisclosed conflicts of interest and you also describe his views on benzodiazepines including an enclosed letter from the Department of Health. In conclusion, you suggest that there is an ACMD register of interests.

My officials are aware of Professor Nutt's declaration of interests - as published on the Medical Research Council's website Register of Member Interests. However, Professor Nutt has advised my officials that he no longer holds the shares listed. I would consider that Professor Nutt's declared interests are not uncommon for senior academics in the field of pharmacology.

The Home Office currently follows good practice guidelines in publishing data where members of advisory bodies declare the following (in accordance with OCPA guidelines for Non-Departmental Public Bodies):

These declarations are published in an anonymous format on the Cabinet Office website. However, I agree that ACMD members should publish a wider declaration of their interests and have secured assurance from the Chair that this information will be published as soon as practicable.

With regards to your request that the Home Office review Professor Nutt's position, I can advise that I do not intend to review Professor Nutt's position. However, you will wish to be aware that the Home Office intend to undertake a review of the ACMD's functioning and processes in line with Cabinet Office.

With regards to your suggestion that any ACMD member connected to the pharmaceutical industry be disbarred from the Council, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1 971 requires that the ACMD shall include at least one member with wide and recent experience of the pharmaceutical industry. It is therefore not possible to disbar any member connected to the pharmaceutical industry. Indeed, the wide and diverse range of expertise that ACMD members have is imperative to provide the range of advice required of it under the Misuse of Drugs Act, It is also important to stress that interests any ACMD member may have in a given field do not automatically represent conflicts of interest, but should be considered on an individual basis. Furthermore, if the Home Office insisted that Chair of the ACMD did not receive any funding from the pharmaceutical industry for their responsibilities outside the Council, it would potentially limit the technical expertise that we could recruit to the ACMD.

Finally, you suggested that the ACMD should conduct a proper assessment of benzodiazepines with expertise to be co-opted onto the ACMD for that assessment. While, of course, the ACMD has a statutory duty to provide advice to Government where they consider it appropriate, you will wish to be aware that, in consultation with the Department of Health, I recently wrote to the ACMD setting out the Government's priorities for its work for the coming year. As part of that work, I have asked the ACMD to look at poly drug use and anticipate that the ACMD will include benzodiazepines in this work. I understand that the ACMD have been planning their forward work programme to accommodate my requests. I will ensure that my officials communicate your concerns to the ACMD.

Yours,

Jacqui Smith

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