Ecstasy use is 'no more dangerous than horse riding'

Taking ecstasy is no more dangerous than riding a horse, according to a senior drugs advisor.

The Advisory Council On The Misuse Of Drugs is expected to recommend to the UK government that ecstasy is downgraded from a Class A drug to a Class B one next week, according to BBC News.

Professor David Nutt, chairman of the ACMD has outlined his view in the Journal Of Psychopharmacology, pointing out that horse riding accidents were responsible for more than a hundred deaths a year.

"Drug harm can be equal to harms in other parts of life. There is not much difference between horse-riding and ecstasy. This attitude raises the critical question of why society tolerates - indeed encourages - certain forms of potentially harmful behaviour but not others such as drug use," he wrote.

Professor Nutt claimed that ecstasy is less dangerous than other Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine in a report last year.

The ACMD, however, has distanced itself from Professor Nutt's comments, with a spokesman saying: "The recent article by Professor David Nutt published in the Journal Of Psychopharmacology was done in respect of his academic work and not as chair of the ACMD. Professor Nutt's academic work does not prejudice that which he conducts as chair of the ACMD."

David Raynes from the National Drug Prevention Alliance, however, has criticised Professor Nutt's comments.

"He is entitled to his personal opinion, but if his personal view conflicts so very strongly with his public duties, it would be honourable to consider his position. If he does not, the Home Secretary should do it for him,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

Last September a Home Office spokesperson said the government believed ecstasy should remain a Class A drug. Ecstasy use is linked to around 30 deaths a year, up from 10 a year in the early '90s.

Cannabis was reclassified a Class B drug last month (January 26), despite the Advisory Council For The Misuse Of Drugs advising that it should remain in the Class C classification.