Police reject ecstasy downgrading

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The Government's drug advisory group, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), is meeting to examine the harm caused by ecstasy, and could eventually recommend that it is downgraded from class A to class B.

Experts will make presentations to the panel on how ecstasy, also known as MDMA, affects users, with the final report due to be published next year.

Tim Hollis, chief constable of Humberside Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) lead officer on drugs, said the review of ecstasy was primarily a matter for the ACMD.

"From an operational policing perspective, Acpo does not support any change in classification of ecstasy from its current class A status," he said.

"We will await the ACMD's advice to Government when it is published with interest."

The decision on whether to reclassify ecstasy will ultimately be made by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Ecstasy can and does kill unpredictably. There is no such thing as a 'safe dose'.

"The Government firmly believes that ecstasy should remain a Class A drug."

A 2006 Science and Technology Committee report found drugs should be rated purely on the basis of health and social risks and not legal punishments.