Below is a letter to the Guardian, published today (11 February 2009) in reduced form.
Jacqui Smith is keen that the Governments classification of drugs should send clear messages to would-be users. One message conveyed by her attack on David Nutt (Drugs adviser says sorry over ecstasy article, 10 February) is that she does not care about the scientific evidence of harm, or does not understand it.
She brushes aside his comparison that shows that riding a horse is many times more dangerous than using ecstasy on the ground that the first is legal and the second illegal. A second message is, therefore, that ecstasy should be made legal, or horse riding illegal. Or is the intended message that the Government cares nothing for consistency.