Thank goodness our Home Secretary has finally seen the light and sacked the aptly named Professor Nutt.

He should have gone a long time ago.

His views on narcotic substances never ceased to amaze me with their inconsistency.

Firstly he seemed unhappy about the reclassification of cannabis. He appeared blissfully unaware that genetically engineered super-strength skunk is a completely different drug to the cannabis of decades gone by.

The difference between the two is akin to that of drinking absinthe as opposed to lager.

The psychoactive ingredient THC has a range of nasty effects on the health of mind and body. It can cause instant psychosis by raising dopamine levels in the brain.

This can lead to violent behaviour, and several murders have been linked to it.

Smoking pot can also disrupt liver metabolism by depleting glucose stores; hence the phenomenon known as the munchies, whereby users feel a compulsion to stuff themselves with sweet snacks.

How Prof Nutt can state that cannabis is no more dangerous than cigarettes is also rather strange as the two substances are often taken together.

Their noxious effects reinforce each other in a deadly synergy.

In the hour after smoking a joint you are four times more likely to suffer a fatal heart attack.

Downgrading drugs like this makes them cheaper and easier for naive youngsters to get hold of. Young people do not realise the harm they may do to themselves.

It was also the height of irresponsibility for Oxford Green Party to hold a demonstration in Broad Street calling for the legalisation of cannabis.

Regarding ecstasy, it has been discovered that certain individuals are unable to metabolise this manufactured drug. This can result in fatalities.

One has to be suspicious of this former drug tsar’s agenda.

Susan Thomas, Magdalen Road, Oxford