Editing Gordon Brown (section)

===Drug policy===
During Brown's premiership, in October 2008, the [[Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs]] (ACMD) recommended to the then [[Home Secretary]] [[Jacqui Smith]] that [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] remain classified as a [[Class C drug]].<ref name="BBC News cannabis">{{Cite news |date=31 October 2009 |title=Debate over cannabis classification |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7845023.stm |url-status=live |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019033134/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8334774.stm |archive-date=19 October 2010}}</ref> Acting against the advice of the council, she chose to reclassify it as [[Drugs controlled by the UK Misuse of Drugs Act#Class B drugs|Class B]].<ref name="BBC News cannabis" /> After Professor [[David Nutt]], the chair of the ACMD, criticised this move in a lecture in 2009, he was asked to step down by then Home Secretary [[Alan Johnson]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 October 2009 |title=Cannabis row drugs adviser sacked |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8334774.stm |url-status=live |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019033134/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8334774.stm |archive-date=19 October 2010}}</ref> Following his resignation, Professor Nutt said Brown had "made up his mind" to reclassify cannabis despite evidence to the contrary.<ref name="Batty20091031">{{Cite news |last=Batty |first=David |date=31 October 2009 |title=Professor David Nutt warns resignations may result from prime minister's 'absurd' stance on reclassification |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/31/david-nutt-drugs-adviser-sacked |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091102065008/http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/31/david-nutt-drugs-adviser-sacked |archive-date=2 November 2009}}</ref> Brown had argued, "I don't think that the previous studies took into account that so much of the cannabis on the streets is now of a lethal quality and we really have got to send out a message to young people—this is not acceptable".<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 April 2008 |title=Brown says message must be sent on cannabis |work=[[Reuters]] |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL2973937220080430 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620023313/http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL2973937220080430 |archive-date=20 June 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Oates |first=John |date=29 April 2008 |title=Brown opts for morality over science on 'lethal skunk' |work=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/29/brown_cannabis_science |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430220351/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/29/brown_cannabis_science |archive-date=30 April 2008}}</ref> Professor Nutt's predecessor at the ACMD, [[Sir Michael Rawlins]], later said, "Governments may well have good reasons for taking an alternative view&nbsp;... When that happens, then the government should explain why it's ignoring the particular advice".<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 October 2009 |title=Sacked adviser criticises Brown |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8335189.stm |url-status=live |access-date=31 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091031100740/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8335189.stm |archive-date=31 October 2009}}</ref>