The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (originally called The Independent Council on Drug Harms (ICDH)) is a UK-based independent drugs advisory committee set up and chaired by Professor David Nutt. It was officially launched on 15 January 2010 with the help of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. It was created with the primary aim to review and investigate the scientific evidence of drug harms free from political interference.[1]
This follows the controversial sacking of Professor Nutt, on 30 October 2009 as chair of the UK's statutory Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs by UK Home Secretary, Alan Johnson.[2]
The controversy followed his Eve Saville Memorial Lecture (2009) at the Centre.