HC Deb 15 February 1960 vol 617 cc953-6
44. Mr. Rankin

asked the Minister of Health what recommendations have been made to him by the Drug Addiction Committee on the control of the sale of Persomnia.

Mr. Walker-Smith

The active ingredients of Persomnia fall within the group of substances referred to in my reply to Questions by the hon. Members for Swindon (Mr. F. Noel-Baker) and Barking (Mr. Driberg) on 7th December and in that of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department to a Question by the hon. Member for Dartford (Mr. Sydney Irving) on 11th February.

Mr. Rankin

Am I to take it that the right hon. and learned Gentleman proposes to carry out the recommendation of the Drug Addiction Committee and to make Persomnia available to the public only on the prescription of a doctor?

Mr. Walker-Smith

I understand from my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary that the ingredients are covered by the recommendations made to him by the Poisons Board, and that this preparation is therefore amongst those of which he proposes to restrict the supply only on prescription.

45. Mrs. Butler

asked the Minister of Health if he has studied the communication recently sent to him enclosing a copy of a warning given by the Co-operative Union to co-operative chemists, requesting them to sell Preludin, Persomnia, Relaxa, Menopax, and Miltown, only on a doctor's prescription or on the advice of a qualified chemist: and what reply he has sent.

Mr. Walker-Smith

I have received this communication and am glad to know of the action taken by the Co-operative Union, which is similar to that taken by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain last August.

Mrs. Butler

Is the Minister aware that there is considerable public confusion about whether "pep" pills are on sale freely at chemists or not? Also, can the Minister say what there is to prevent him, when he puts these pills on the Schedule 4 list, as I believe it is called, referring to them by their popular names as well as by the normal medical formula?

Mr. Walker-Smith

This procedure operates under the Poisons Act of 1933. As the hon. Lady will know, this is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary rather than for me, but I am sure that he will take note of what she had said.

Mr. Rankin

Is it not the case that some "pep" pills and drugs do not come under the Poisons Act? Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman then not responsible for ensuring that they are made available only on medical prescription?

Mr. Walker-Smith

The control of these drugs falls under three Statutes: the Dangerous Drugs Act, the Poisons Act—for both of which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is responsible—and the Therapeutic Substances Act, for which I am responsible. Having studied this question, I have come to the conclusion that it is only less complex than the Rent Restriction Acts, and therefore we are engaged in reviewing the whole matter.

Dr. Summerskill

Is the Minister aware that the country is being flooded with drugs of addiction, many being put on the market by firms which have their main offices in America? Is the Minister going to wait for the Pharmaceutical Society and the Co-operative Union to take action and, as he says, become tangled in the maze of Statutes, until a number of tragedies take place, such as occurred in the case of Preludin, before he himself takes action?

Mr. Walker-Smith

No. Sir. In answer to the hon. Gentleman's question, I was referring to the general position and I gave a brief summary of the legislation on this matter which, as the right hon. Lady knows, is complicated. We are reviewing the whole position in order to simplify and improve it. The particular matter to which she has referred, as I said in answer to the hon. Lady the Member for Wood Green (Mrs. Butler), is governed by the Poisons Act, in respect of which my right hon. Friend is taking prompt and effective action.

Mr. Gaitskell

I understood the Minister to say that the complexities of the situation resemble those of the Rent Restriction Acts and that therefore he is reviewing them. Are we to understand that the Government are reviewing the Rent Restriction Acts?

Mr. Walker-Smith

In making that comparison, I had in mind less my sphere of responsibility as a Member of the Government than certain forensic memories of the past when I had to inter- pret these matters for the benefit of my clients. It was only in this sense that I made the comparison.