Further calls for ecstasy to be downgraded a blow to pubs
The battle to keep drugs out of licensed premises could become tougher after another leading drug adviser has called for ecstasy to be downgraded.
Professor David Nutt, who is on the advisory council on the misuse of drugs, the government's official drug advisory panel, told Home Secretary David Blunkett last week that it was misleading to give ecstasy the same status as heroin and cocaine because it is not as dangerous.
He is now urging the government to downgrade ecstasy from a class A to a class B drug.
Professor Nutt, the head of clinical medicine at Bristol University, said: "Millions of kids every week take ecstasy and it's actually a very safe drug. I'm fully signed up to it being class B."
His views will strengthen calls from drug campaigners, senior police officers and politicians for further reform of Britain's drug laws.
But the trade fears that downgrading ecstasy will send out the message that the drug is more acceptable and will make it more difficult to keep all drugs out of pubs.
Caroline Nodder, spokeswoman for the British Institute of Innkeeping, said: "There is always a danger that when it's suggested that there's a part change to the law, the confusion could be misleading. We recommend that licensees maintain a complete zero-tolerance policy and put up posters telling customers that drugs will not be tolerated."
When the news broke five months ago that cannabis was to be downgraded from a class B to a class C drug, licensees in Brixton, South London, noticed the difference immediately. Licensee Acin Buyukkar, who runs the Beehive Pub, said that as soon as the government made the announcement, customers were lighting up joints claiming it was as good as legal.
In September, university of Liverpool scientists Dr John Cole and Dr Harry Sumnall called for the drug to be reclassified and criticised animal and human studies, which say the drug causes long-term brain damage and mental problems.
The Publican's Market Report 2002 showed that 18 per cent of respondents had faced problems with customers taking or possessing drugs and three per cent had experienced battles to keep drug dealers out of their premises.
