A DISABLED cannabis campaigner who is fighting his prosecution for growing the drug has written to the home secretary to complain about the sacking of drugs advisor Professor David Nutt.

Professor Nutt was axed after he said he believed the decision to reclassify cannabis from Grade C to Grade B was “politically motivated” and said alcohol and tobacco is more harmful than the drug.

Edwin Stratton, 43, of High Road, Leyton, suffers from a gluten allergy and claims to need cannabis to alleviate his symptoms.

Mr Stratton is accused of producing the drug but has been given permission to argue that the courts' application is discriminatory as cigarettes and alcohol are legal.

In an email to home secretary Alan Johnson, Mr Stratton said: “Mr Johnson, you are without scientific credentials. Professor Nutt's 'views' are not opinion, they are scientific facts.

“They represent the culmination of a decade of exhaustive and thorough scientific research: they are facts, whether you are comfortable with them or not.

“You may not like them; they may conflict with your ideological assumptions, but they are objective facts, without regard to your political views.

“The ramifications of this are horrific.

“Please understand that because you flatly refuse to acknowledge objective reality, you will ruin thousands more lives with traumatic raids, arrests, trials and imprisonment - for doing the same things with less harmful drugs than others do with legally-available alternatives.”

In a statement to the Commons this week Mr Johnson said Prof Nutt had been sacked not for his views but for “his failure to recognise that his role is to advise rather than criticise.”

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