David Cameron has confirmed the Government would outlaw drug driving in England and Wales as he praised the family of a schoolgirl killed by a cannabis user for their "brave" campaign to change the law.

Lillian Groves was 14 when she was knocked down and the driver went on to serve just four months in jail.

The Prime Minister said it "simply can't be right" that the laws were not in place to punish drug drivers properly.

Motorists under the influence of illegal substances can only be prosecuted if police can prove their driving has been impaired.

[continues 66 words]

David Nutt may be outspoken - increasingly so in recent years - but his appointment as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs was based on his standing as a psychiatrist and pharmacologist.

He was appointed to the independent body given the task of providing scientific ballast to the formation of government policy. He has written on the relative harms of alcohol, Ecstasy and other drugs, based on a 30-year research career.

That his views were at odds with the Government was clear, but that did not stop them being credible and valuable. Did ministers really expect Professor Nutt to stop speaking about drugs and risks, even in a personal capacity, or to stop publishing peer-reviewed papers? They can't have believed so.

[continues 131 words]

THE father of a teenage ecstasy death victim last night vowed to read the disturbing post mortem report into her death to schoolchildren.

Siobhan Delaney suffered an extreme brain reaction when she took one and a half tablets in a Liverpool city centre nightclub.

Her father, Desmond, said he hoped reading the distressing documents, outlining how the tablets killed his daughter, would shock Merseyside's pupils away from experimenting with drugs.

Mr Delaney said: "My beautiful daughter's life was cut short by this drug. She will never have the chance to fulfil her dreams.

[continues 70 words]