Membership
Details of the council's committees and latest meeting minutes.
There are currently 20 members of the advisory council.
Membership
Appointments (usually for a term of 3 years) are ordinarily made by the Home Secretary, in accordance with guidance issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
According to this guidance, members can serve a maximum period of 10 years, although no member can be reappointed unless they have received a satisfactory performance appraisal.
Current members
The register of interests for members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) lists their occupations, the organisations they work for and the nature of any interests they might have.
Chair
Professor Owen Bowden-Jones, consultant in addiction psychiatry and Honorary Professor at University College London.
Members
- Professor Judith Aldridge, Professor of Criminology at University of Manchester
- Dr Kostas Agath, Consultant Psychiatrist (Addictions), Change Grow Live Southwark
- Professor Owen Bowden-Jones, Consultant Psychiatrist, Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust
- Professor Anne Campbell, Senior lecturer in social work at Queens University Belfast
- Mr Mohammed Fessal, Chief Pharmacist for Change Grow Live
- Dr Emily Finch, Clinical Director of the Addictions Clinical Academic Group and a Consultant Psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.
- Lawrence Gibbons, Former Head of Drug Threat (Intelligence Directorate, Commodities) at National Crime Agency
-
Professor Hilary Hamnett, Associate Professor in Forensic Science and Forensic Toxicologist at the University of Lincoln
- Professor Graeme Henderson, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Bristol
- Dr Carole Hunter, Pharmacy Advisor, part time, Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services (ADRS) NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Retired lead pharmacist ADRS and Doping Control Officer for UK Antidoping
- Professor Roger Knaggs, Associate Professor in Clinical Pharmacy practice at the University of Nottingham
- Harry Shapiro, Director of DrugWise
- Dr Richard Stevenson, Emergency Medicine Consultant at Glasgow Royal Infirmary
- Professor Paul Stokes, Professor of Mood Disorders and Psychopharmacology, King’s College London
- Dr Ann Sullivan, Consultant Physician in HIV and Sexual Health and National co-lead for HIV Surveillance, Public Health England
- Professor David Taylor, Director of Pharmacy and Pathology at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Professor of Psychopharmacology at Kings College London
- Professor Simon Thomas, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Newcastle University
- Dr Derek Tracy, Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Director at West London NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Lecturer at University College London
- Rosalie Weetman, Public Health Lead (Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco) at Derbyshire County Council
- Dr David Wood, Consultant Physician and Clinical Toxicologist, Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Trust and Honorary Reader, King’s College London
Committees
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has 4 committees.
Recovery committee
Co-Chairs: Dr Emily Finch and Dr Anne Campbell
Recovery committee is a standing committee of the ACMD, formed in 2011 to support the ACMD to advise the government on how people can best be supported to recover from dependence on drugs and alcohol.
The recovery committee is comprised of ACMD members with an interest or expertise in aspects of drug and alcohol recovery, supplemented by additional co-opted experts in aspects of recovery.
Technical committee
Chair: Professor Roger Knaggs
Technical committee is a standing committee of the ACMD. Its primary purpose is to provide technical advice on classification and scheduling of substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its regulations.
For example, the committee is consulted on the measures necessary to ensure a controlled drug is not diverted from legitimate medical purposes.
Novel psychoactive substances committee
Chair: Professor Simon Thomas
The novel psychoactive substances committee was set up in response to the emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) that have rapidly and significantly changed the drug scene.
The committee aims to monitor the prevalence and harms of NPS and where appropriate provide advice on this to government
Prevention committee
Chair: Professor Owen Bowden-Jones
The Prevention is the newest standing committee of the ACMD. The committee was formed in 2023, following the publication of the ACMD Prevention report in 2022 and in response to an increasing demand for work around prevention.
The committee considers advice on preventing drug use among vulnerable groups of people and how those groups can be prevented both from first using and developing dependence on drugs