OUR LATEST ISSUE
Gay News: The Government's new drug adviser has come under attack for his views on homosexuality
Dr Hans Christian Raabe
New drugs adviser slams "destructive" gay lifestyle
24 January 2011
Doctor Hans Christian Raabe was appointed last week to the Advisory Commission on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).
A GP and medical coordinator of Christian organisation the Council for Health and Wholeness, Doctor Raabe holds controversial views on homosexuality, even going so far as to link it to paedophilia.
According to the Observer, Raabe is the co-author of a paper which claimed: “While the majority of homosexuals are not involved in paedophilia, it is of grave concern that there is a disproportionately greater number of homosexuals among paedophiles and an overlap between the gay movement and the movement to make paedophilia acceptable.”
A briefing paper from the CHW also addresses what it perceives as health issues peculiar to the gay community.
“The media and the gay movement portray the homosexual lifestyle as happy, healthy and fulfilled,” it states. “However the homosexual lifestyle is associated with a large number of very serious physical and emotional health consequences.
“A high proportion of homosexual men engage in a destructive lifestyle, for example contracting HIV/ AIDS or other STIs, and develop addiction to drugs or alcohol. There is a higher burden of depression and attempted or completed suicide among the gay population.”
Raabe’s appointment, and his opinions, including his belied that being a member of a religious community reduces the risk of addiction, has raised concern among the medical community.
One expert in the drugs field told the Observer: “Was he appointed to represent the views of GPs? If so did other GPs apply? If so what was it about him that stood out? He is the first overtly political candidate to be appointed to the ACMD.”
Raabe’s appointment was also criticised by Professor David Nutt, the ACMD’s former chairman who resigned in 2009 over the Government’s decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug.
“The appointment of Doctor Raabe confirms in my mind that the ACMD cannot be considered to be a body that has science at the heart of its decision-making,” Professor Nutt said.
