The chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has stated in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that taking ecstasy is no more dangerous than horse riding.

Professor Nutt said that horse riding accounts for over 100 deaths per year whereas ecstasy is associated with 30 deaths per year. His point is to raise the question of why society tolerates some types of potential harmful behavior but not others.

Nutt states:

“Drug harm can be equal to harms in other parts of life. There is not much difference between horse-riding and ecstasy.”

It is likely that next week the ACMD will recommend that ecstasy is downgraded from a class A to a class B drug though ministers are opposed to this.