http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/11/cracks_show_in_government_over.html
"Johnson also admitted he did not consult the government’s chief
scientific adviser John Beddington before sacking Nutt. Beddington
told the BBC he agreed with Nutt that cannabis was less harmful than
cigarettes and alcohol but wouldn’t say whether he agreed with the
sacking.

Johnson may have a bigger problem though. According to the Sun,
Science Minister Lord Drayson told the Prime Minister’s office the
sacking was “a big mistake” and that he was “pretty appalled”.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has thrown his weight behind Johnson
though, telling the Evening Standard “We’ll get tougher on drugs.”

Bizarrely, Brown went on to say, “On climate change, or health, for
example, we take the best scientific advice possible. But in an area
like drugs we have to look at it in the round.”

If you can work out what that means please let us know."
....

so now we're down to the dishonest millipede


politics before statesmanship
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-labours-thirst-for-power-led-to-this-confusion-over-drugs-1813646.html
"Alan Johnson has taken a sledgehammer to crack a Nutt. The Home
Secretary could easily have ignored remarks by the UK's chief drugs
adviser questioning the reclassification of cannabis as a "class B"
drug. Instead, he sacked Professor David Nutt, thus guaranteeing a
monumental public row. Perhaps that is exactly what Mr Johnson wanted.
It creates the impression that the Government is "tough on drugs", one
of the three headlines that New Labour has craved above all (the
others are "Labour gets tough on crime" and "Labour gets tough on
terror").

For it is quite hard otherwise to see exactly why Professor Nutt has
been fired. It would not be the first time one of the Government's
scientific advisers has publicly indicated that ministers have not
taken their advice. When this Government in its 2003 White Paper on
Energy decided at the last minute to remove nuclear power from the
plans for new non-fossil fuel electricity generation, directly against
the advice of its then chief scientific adviser Professor David King,
Sir David made it publicly very clear that his advice had been
ignored. He remained in his post."


regards

-- 
web site at www.abelard.org - news comment service, logic, economics 
 energy, education, politics, etc over 1 million document calls in year past
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  all that is necessary for       []     walk quietly and carry
  the triumph of evil is that     []           a big stick.
  good people do nothing     []    trust actions not words
                    only when it's funny -- roger rabbit
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abelard wrote:

> For it is quite hard otherwise to see exactly why Professor Nutt has
> been fired. 

Because Johnson is an inadequate man who is intimidated and undermined 
by people with qualifications.