London: The government's new drugs tsar is listed as an adviser to a shadowy foundation run by an aristocrat lobbying to liberalise laws on mind-altering drugs.
Professor Les Iversen is head of the official Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which is currently at the centre of the debate over regulating mephedrone — known as M-Cat or Meow Meow.
But the Beckley Foundation, a controversial charity campaigning against anti-drug regulations, claims he is one of its key advisers.
The foundation is run by Amanda, Lady Neidpath — dubbed Lady Mindbender — who admits using drugs herself, including cannabis and LSD, and says one of her two children has also been a heavy user. Professor Iversen — the third senior government drugs adviser to be linked to the organisation — does not declare his connection to it on the Home Office's register of interests.
On Friday night he claimed he no longer had anything to do with the organisation, but its website on Saturday still listed him as one of its panel of 13 scientific advisers. The listing was most recently updated last month.
Lady Neidpath, 67, said on Saturday: "He, like many important people in this field, agreed to be on our advisory panel. We don't meet, but Professor Iversen has never asked me to remove him from our scientific advisers list." On Saturday night one senior Tory MP called on the professor to resign as head of the ACMD.
Critics say the Beckley Foundation, operating out of a secluded 16th century Oxfordshire manor house, is committed to legalising drugs under the guise of "studying consciousness and altered states".
