Titled Science and non-science in drug policy: how politics compounds harm, his lecture will take place between 6-7pm in the Brabourne Lecture Theatre on the Canterbury Campus.
Professor Nutt, who holds the Edmond J. Safra Chair in Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, was until November 2009 Chair of the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). He was dismissed by the then Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, following a disagreement over public discussion of evidence about the relative harm of different drugs.
Organiser of the lecture, Professor Alex Stevens of the University’s Kent Crime and Justice Centre, said: ‘The regulation of drugs – including alcohol and tobacco – is an issue of pressing importance due to the increasing health care costs associated with their use and the new sorts of synthetic agents being developed and sold over the internet.
‘Professor Nutt’s talk will reflect on these issues in the light of his ten year experience on the ACMD. He will present new analyses that compare the harms of drugs and alcohol using more sophisticated methodology and challenge many of the current misconceptions about drugs – their harms – and how to deal with them.’
Anyone wishing to attend the lecture, which is being organised by the Kent Crime and Justice Centre in conjunction with the University’s Psychedelics Society, is asked to register at: http://www.doodle.com/fuui8ydryqcfe8zh
