Taunton School was fortunate enough to receive insight into the world of politics, drug use, and inequality last 
week.
Yes, well known Prof David Nutt, former drugs advisor to the previous government, enlightened an audience of pupils, parents and the public, to the statistical evidence behind the modern day drug economy.
He emphasised on how the new popular culture was largely fuelled by the media, and that half hearted truths with extrapolated ploys played the readers into a fictional reality.
Quite humorously, he compared the relative harms of taking the drug Ecstasy to horse riding! A view which was originally dubbed extreme was soon superseded by vigorous statistical analysis to convince the public.
Most memorably he demonstrated solid evidence for the misunderstood dangers of alcohol, particularly in young people, and made the audience reassess whether this legal drug really was as safe as we like to think.
David Nutt talked about his personal history with the government, as he served on the ‘Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs’, where his views caused great criticism from the media and other advisers.
In light of his previous social convictions, his talk still drew in the crowds, some of which proposed the awkward questions which he, with his wealth of knowledge around the subject, was able to give reasonable explanations to. A very good talk.