Sacked Government adviser Professor David Nutt has vowed to tell "the truth about drugs" as he launched a breakaway body of "unfettered" scientific colleagues.
He said he relished being free from the political pressure he felt as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).
The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD), which has met for the first time, was set up in the wake of the row over Prof Nutt's dismissal by Home Secretary Alan Johnson in October.
Mr Johnson sacked his chief drugs adviser over claims made in a paper that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.
Previously Prof Nutt had clashed with former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith after suggesting that horseriding was more dangerous than ecstasy.
His sacking caused a major rift between the Government and many of the scientific experts it relies on for advice. Five of Prof Nutt's fellow ACMD members resigned in sympathy, four of whom have joined the new independent group.
Prof Nutt promised the ISCD would provide the "best science" available on the harmfulness of recreational drugs for both members of the public and - if they wished to use it - Government ministers.
Speaking at the Science Media Centre in London, he said: "This is the strongest grouping of scientists looking at drugs that we've ever had in this country. It is a truly independent committee. The model is used in other countries - the Dutch have a similar system. It's something many of us have wanted for a long time.
"What this committee will do is provide to you the truth about drugs, unfettered by any political influence. This is a really interesting model; bottom up science, saying we'd like to work as a scientific community to produce quality, independent, politically free, uninfluenced science. I would hope other scientific advisory groups in the Government would end up being like us."
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Prof Nutt said he hoped the new body could work in conjunction with the ACMD, focusing on science while the official advisory group took a broader view of social issues. But he expected disagreements with Government policy on drug classification enshrined in the Misuse of Drugs Act.
