Misplaced Pages

#207792

14-582: The committee produced two reports. The first report is also known as The Report of the Second Inter-departmental Committee on Drug Addiction , and it was published in 1961. It stated that the incidence of addiction to dangerous drugs in Great Britain was small. This was the same conclusion drawn by the previous committee, The Rolleston Committee , in 1926. The second report was published in 1964. This report showed that there had been

28-589: A percentage lower than that specified in the Dangerous Drugs Acts should be brought within the provisions if the Acts and Regulations and, if so, under what conditions. The committee's report to the Minister of Health (Chamberlain) contained the committee's findings about precautions when allowing morphine or heroin to be administered to addicts and in allowing the use of those substances in ordinary medical treatment. On

42-498: A significant rise in the incidence of addiction to heroin and cocaine , and that the main source of supply was a small number of overprescribing doctors. The Rolleston defined addiction as an individualised pathology, whilst the second Brain report explicitly described the condition as a socially infectious one. It recommended the establishment of special treatment centres, especially in the London area, where addicts could be isolated from

56-598: The Home Office who suggested to the Ministry of Health Departmental Committee on Morphine and Heroin Addiction be formed under the chairmanship of Sir Humphry Rolleston to "... consider and advise as to the circumstances, if any, in which the supply of morphine and heroin (including preparations containing morphine and heroin) to persons suffering from addiction to those drugs may be regarded as medically advisable, and as to

70-440: The 'British System' of drug supply and control. They allowed addicts who could not be cured to be maintained on a, usually small, amount of a drug. They said that addiction was a middle class phenomenon, so criminal sanctions were unnecessary, as few criminal or lower class addicts were known. They added that addiction to such drugs as heroin or morphine was a minor problem in Great Britain. The terms of reference given by

84-668: The Home Secretary. This proviso also applied to dilutions of cocaine and morphine, as defined in the lower limits set by the Hague Convention. The Home Office, in consultation with the Ministry of Health , as a result of this Act, produced a series of memoranda for doctors and dentists to explain the requirements of the Act. These were known as DD 101's (Memoranda as to the Duties of Doctors and Dentists). These were distributed to doctors, although

98-407: The Minister of Health ( John Wheatley ) when first appointing the committee on 30 September 1924, and appointing Rolleston as its chairman, had been To consider and advise as to the circumstances, if any, in which the supply of morphine and heroin (including preparations containing morphine and heroin) to persons suffering from addiction to those drugs may be regarded as medically advisable, and as to

112-524: The community and treated. These became known as Drug Dependency Units or DDUs. A recommendation of the second committee was to set up a Standing Advisory Committee to keep under review the whole problem of drug dependence. This drew on evidence provided by doctors, and eventually they produced a report, the Wootton Report . Rolleston Committee In 1924, following concerns about the treatment of addicts by doctors, James Smith Whitaker suggested to

126-473: The precautions which it is desirable that medical practitioners administering or prescribing morphine or heroin should adopt for the avoidance of abuse, and to suggest any administrative measures that seem expedient for securing observance of such precautions". The committee is usually referred to as the Rolleston Committee . The committee recommended that gradual reduction in the amount of drug consumed

140-473: The precautions which it is desirable that medical practitioners administering or prescribing morphine or heroin should adopt for the avoidance of abuse, and to suggest any administrative measures that seem expedient for securing observance of such precautions. Some months later, on 12 February 1925, the Minister of Health ( Neville Chamberlain ) added To consider and advise whether it is expedient that any or all preparations which contain morphine or heroin of

154-544: The question of the scope of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 5 . c. 46) the report concluded that there was little if any abuse or danger of addiction arising from any preparations then excluded from the scope of the Dangerous Drugs Acts with the possible exception of Chlorodyne , and the report tentatively proposed that no preparation should be sold under the name Chlorodyne which contained more than 0.1 per cent of morphine. The Rolleston Committee Report

SECTION 10

#1732854591208

168-640: Was followed by "a period of nearly forty years of tranquillity in Britain, known as the Rolleston Era. During this period the medical profession regulated the distribution of licit opioid supplies and the provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Acts of 1920 and 1923 controlled illicit supplies." Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 The Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 5 . c. 46) is an UK act of Parliament which changed drug addiction , which up to then

182-415: Was the best method of treatment and that there should be no restrictions on the doctors allowed to prescribe morphine and heroin, their methods of treatment, or the quantity they could supply, although authority to supply could be withdrawn from over-prescribing doctors. They allowed doctors to prescribe addictive drugs in a controlled manner, in the same way as they supplied other drugs. This became known as

196-528: Was treated within the medical profession as a disease, into a penal offence. The former was the view held by the then Assistant Under Secretary of State , Malcolm Delevingne . The Home Office was charged with implementing the act. In January 1921 the Home Secretary gave 40 days' notice of his intention to issue controls over: The act also said that the export, import, sale, distribution or possession of barbiturates , had to be licensed or authorised by

#207792