Earlier this week Prof Nutt used a lecture at King's College, London, to attack what he called the "artificial" separation of alcohol and tobacco from illegal drugs.

Even though alcohol and tobacco are between them responsible for upto 100,000 death's per year, as a result of the massive tax revenues they create, they remain legal, whilst cannabis, which is still to be credibly linked to a single death, is irrationally outlawed.

Some believe this is as a result of the threat

ecstasy into Class B had "won the intellectual argument".

You're Fired
In a letter to Professor Nutt, the home secretary wrote: "I cannot have public confusion between scientific advice and policy and have therefore lost confidence in your ability to advise me as Chair of the ACMD.

"I would therefore ask you to step down from the Council with immediate effect."

The sacking has been badly received by a British cannabis community which numbers between 5 and 7 million UK voters.

At a time when Labour are undertaking a program of damage limitation in the run up to the general election, the alienation of such a large number of UK voters, whilst in the United States and mainland Europe governments are going the other way and decriminalising cannabis in varying degree's, is sure to come back and haunt them at the polls.

United States & Cannabis
Recently President Obama commented patients who use cannabis as part of a state sanctioned medical cannabis program (a program which is over 30 years old currently, with no upturn in psychotic illness as a result) would no longer be harassed by federal law enforcement.

Medical patients with a doctors recommendation are legally entitled to grow up to 99 plants, and possess upto 9 ounces of dried cannabis depending on which state they live in.

But its not only cannabis as medicine which is in the news. In California, Democratic assemblyman Tom Ammiano is blazing a trail as the sponsor of a bill which if approved, will decriminalise all use, both medical and recreational, of cannabis. It will also create tax revenues of around $1.4 Billion dollars per year.

Europe & Cannabis
Holland has operated a medical cannabis program for patients suffering a number of diseases since 1971, and its well publicised tolerant approach to cannabis has let to some of the lowest user figures in Europe.

Portugal recently decriminalised all recreational drugs for personal consumption, calling it a public health issue as opposed to a judicial matter.

Proving once and for all just how far out of touch the British government is on the tricky issue of how to deal with cannabis.

UK Cannabis Forums
A Facebook group has been set up in support of Professor David Nutt , and a cannabis discussion forum based in South Wales would love to hear from UK voters who believe Professor Nutt should be reinstated immediately.

As the evidence proves from the US and Europe, British politicians are using cannabis as a political ping-pong ball, and in the meantime, British patients suffering with multiple sclerosis, cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS amongst a great many other conditions are forced to break the law in a bid to use what has been proven by the American medical fraternity time and again, to be the best, the least addictive, and the most effective treatment for a whole host of conditions.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
In 2008 The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society released a position paper in which it stated that it supports legislation to remove criminal and civil sanctions for the doctor-advised, medical use of cannabis by patients with serious physical medical conditions." The statement also calls for an end to federal prosecutions of patients in states that permit medical use of marijuana.

"This should put to rest forever the lie that the medical and scientific communities don't support medical marijuana," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.

American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians (ACP) is the largest medical specialty organization and the second largest physician group in the United States. Its 124,000 members are doctors specializing in internal medicine and related subspecialties, including cardiology, neurology, pulmonary disease, oncology and infectious diseases.

The College publishes "Annals of Internal Medicine", the most widely cited medical specialty journal in the world.

In its landmark position paper which was released in February 2008, this distinguished group of physicians are saying what many have been arguing for years: Most of our laws have gotten it completely wrong when it comes to cannabis, and it's time for public policy to get in step with science.

ACP's position paper urges "reclassification into a more appropriate schedule, given the scientific evidence regarding marijuana's safety and efficacy in some clinical conditions." The document goes on to call for protection of doctors/physicians' right to "prescribe or dispense medical marijuana" and "strongly urges protection from civil or criminal penalties for patients who use medical cannabis as permitted under state laws."

ACP supports its position with 10 pages of scientific documentation and references. They cite data showing relief of the nausea, vomiting and wasting that can worsen the misery of cancer, AIDS and other diseases; of the pain and tremors associated with multiple sclerosis; and for relief of pain caused by a variety of other conditions. They note that marijuana in combination with some pharmaceuticals may produce more benefit than either drug alone.

ACP calls for more research, but then adds a critical point: In some areas, the efficacy of medical marijuana has already been established, and it's time for studies designed to determine the best dose and route of delivery.

The ACP position paper also demolishes several myths, starting with the notion still proclaimed by some politicians that marijuana is unsafe for medical use. The College notes that the most serious objection to medical marijuana -- potential harm to the lungs from smoking -- has largely been solved by a technology called vaporization, already proven in scientific studies.

The ACP position paper also explains that there is no reason to believe that protecting medical marijuana patients leads to increased drug abuse.

"Marijuana has not been proven to be the cause or even the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse," the doctors write. "Opiates are highly addictive, yet medically effective ... There is no evidence to suggest that medical use of opiates has increased perception that their illicit use is either safe or acceptable."

Overwhelming Evidence
This was an historic document. Large medical associations are by their nature slow, cautious creatures that move only when the evidence is overwhelming. The evidence is indeed overwhelming that, as ACP put it, there is "a clear discord" between what research tells us and what our laws say about the medical use of cannabis.

Lets just be thankful that the American College of Physicians is not the British College of Physicians, or our government may well have tried to fire the whole 124,000 strong membership, for wishing to treat the drugs issue as one of science and not one of politics and it would be fair to suggest this issue isn't over. Not by a country mile.

By Red Dragon @ The Cannabis Forum

http://cannazine.co.uk
http://pr.cannazine.co.uk

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