People are very much considering their positions and they have made it clear they will not continue under the current regime. There is no future for the advisory committee on the freshwater pearl sets misuse of drugs in the current way it operates."

Although Johnson would not comment on today'sresignations, he went on television to step up his attack on Nutt's conduct, insisting he had "crossed the line" with his remarks.

In an angry interview with Sky News, he said: "You cannot have a chief adviser at the same time stepping into the public field and campaigning against government decisions. You can akoya pearl jewelry do one or the other, you can't do both."

Johnson said it was not the job of scientific advisers to "just keep coming back and back and back" to overturn ministerial decisions. He also stressed that the decision to force Nutt out had been his alone and he had not consulted the prime minister, Gordon Brown.

He said: "I've got enormous respect for the advisory council. I want to meet them very soon. I've got enormous respect for the scientific community. They've got to understand that Professor Nutt crossed this line between offering advice ... and twisted pearl necklace then campaigning against the government on political decisions."

But the home secretary found himself under fire from members of the scientific community. Lord Winston, the Labour peer and professor of science and society at Imperial College London, said he was "very surprised and disappointed" by Johnson's actions.

I think that if governments appoint expert advice they shouldn't dismiss it so lightly," he said.

"I think it shows a rather poor understanding of pearl jewelry wholesale the value of science."

On Nutt's claims that ecstasy and LSD were less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes, Winston said: "The overwhelming evidence is probably cannabis is actually less harmful than tobacco or alcohol, that's what the chief scientist is saying."

He added: "I think that's a very reasonable scientific point to make. And of course, science is not about absolutes."

The sacking follows the publication of freshwater pearl pendant a paper by the Centre for Crime and Justice at King's College London, based on a lecture Nutt delivered in July.

He repeated his familiar view that illicit drugs should be classified according to the actual evidence of the harm they cause and pointed out that alcohol and tobacco caused more harm than LSD, ecstasy and cannabis. Alcohol should come fifth behind cocaine, heroin, barbiturates and methadone. Tobacco should rank ninth, ahead of cannabis, LSD and ecstasy, he said. He also argued that smoking cannabis created only a "relatively small risk" of psychotic illness.

The pearl jewelry wholesale Lib Dem science spokesman, Dr Evan Harris MP, who spoke to scientists over the weekend, accused Johnson of "political thuggery". He said the home secretary's actions could create a crisis in government policy-making if the drugs advisory panel was left unable to function or if experts on other panels resigned.