§ 36. Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the statutory and other regulations which ensure that doctors supply heroin and other drug addicts under treatment with only sufficient supplies for their immediate and necessary needs.
§ Miss BaconThe quantity of drug supplied is a matter of professional judgment, and is not prescribed by regulation.
§ Mr. BurdenHas the right hon. Lady's attention been drawn to the teach-in at Manchester on 29th April when it was stated that the supply of heroin was in the hands of six doctors in Harley Street and that people were coming here from Canada and America and getting 1,000 tablets a time, and at which one of the eminent consultants present went on to state that the practice by which a doctor 1281 prescribed 600,000 heroin tablets a year could not be justified to his conscience?
§ Miss BaconThe hon. Gentleman is a little behind about what is happening in the House. The whole purpose of the Drugs Bill, which has gone through this House and is now in the House of Lords, is to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
§ Mr. BurdenBut—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I did not call the hon. Gentleman again.
§ Mr. BlenkinsopIs my right hon. Friend aware that there is some anxiety, which is supported by recent evidence, about an increasing black market in heroin, including powdered heroin, because of the reduction in the amount of prescribing by individual doctors?
§ Miss BaconWe are hoping that when we open the treatment centres, where addicts will be able to get their supplies, that position will be radically changed.
§ 37. Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what regulations control the prescription of heroin and other dangerous drugs to addicts entering Great Britain from overseas, and if he is notified of the presence of these people and the length of their intended stay.
§ Miss BaconThere is no special provision for addicts from overseas. The system of compulsory notification included in the Dangerous Drugs Bill, at present before Parliament, will apply to addicts from overseas as to those resident here. The fact of addiction is not normally known when addicts from overseas are admitted.
§ Mr. BurdenCan the right hon. Lady give an undertaking that the new regulations will be implemented before the end of this year?
§ Miss BaconWe have to wait until the Bill has gone through another place. It will then be for my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health to produce the regulations. I would not like to give an exact date, but I am sure that they will not be unduly delayed.
§ Mr. HoggCan the right hon. Lady state with any degree of accuracy how 1282 long after the Royal Assent it will be before treatement centres will be in operation on the ground?
§ Miss BaconI could not answer that question without notice. As the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows, this is particularly a matter for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health.