A government adviser has quit the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs over the criminalisation of mephedrone.
Eric Carlin said ministers had pledged to ban the drug so as to appear "acting tough" in the run-up to the election.
Mr Carlin is the seventh member of the body to resign following the sacking of former chairman Professor David Nutt.
The council has recommended that the substance, linked to at least four UK deaths, and other so-called "legal highs" be classified as Class-B drugs.
Young people
Mr Carlin, 47, a former chairman of the English Drug Education Forum, told the BBC he was "extremely unhappy" at the way the council arrived at its decision earlier this week.
Earlier, in his resignation letter, he said was increasingly disillusioned with the lack of attention paid by politicians and the media to drug prevention and early intervention among young people.
I think it's pretty ridiculous how the government do not listen to experts on these things. It looks like a political stunt, it's the Home Secretary trying to look tough on drugs, although this resignation may decrease the government's popularity...
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