After Dr Hans-Christian Raabe - I wrote about him here - was appointed by the Home Office to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, people outside the Home Office realised he was a committed Christian who did not minimise the effects of illegal drug use, but believed in promoting drug abstinence.A month later, before he had attended his first meeting with the council, he received a letter from the Home Office cancelling his appointment.
The reason given was that he had failed to disclose that he had co-authored a report in 2005 - nothing to do with drugs - expressing concern that paedophiles, according to research, included a disproportionate number of homosexuals. The report was freely available on the internet.
Peter Saunders points out that Dr Raabe was not alone in his concern. There have been a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals expressing similar views.
It now turns out that one of these was cited approvingly by the Home Office in 1998. In other words, Dr Raabe was sacked from the council for expressing a view that the Home Office had itself expressed.
"This is quite hypocritical and very bizarre indeed," said Dr Raabe. "I volunteered for unpaid public service and feel as though my personal and professional reputation has been shamefully destroyed by the Government for saying something it says itself."
According to the Independent, anti-drugs campaigners are calling on the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to apologise for "an unjustifiable personal and professional attack by her ministry."
David Raynes, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, described the sacking as "a vicious and personal witchhunt orchestrated by pro-drugs campaigners." He added: "There remains a cabal of people on the committee who are sympathetic to the legalisation of all drugs. It can ill afford to lose people who act as a balance against this view."
A statement by the Home Office said Dr Raabe's failure to disclose the report raised concerns about his credibility to provide balanced advice on drug misuse issues and "impacts on the smooth running of the ACMD."
That last phrase perhaps gives a clue to the whole episode.
