§ 48. Mr. Dribergasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps are being taken to warn foreign tourists and British travellers arriving from Italy and other foreign parts that they are liable to imprisonment if they retain in their possession benzedrine-type or anti-air-sickness tablets purchased legally abroad.
§ Miss BaconCustoms officers ask British residents returning to this country to declare all articles in their possession obtained abroad, and give appropriate advice where goods so declared are prohibited or restricted. Notices in various languages, including Italian, are displayed to warn all travellers that the importation of certain articles is prohibited or restricted, and these notices expressly refer to dangerous drugs. My right hon. Friend is considering, in consultation with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the notices could with advantage be amplified.
§ Mr. DribergDoes my right hon. Friend consider that "dangerous drugs" would ordinarily be taken by an average traveller to cover the sort of harmless pills which probably dozens of hon. Members of this House carry?
§ Miss BaconI would not like to comment on that because it might lead me into talking about a specific case which is before the courts. But obviously "dangerous drugs" means what it says. According to our law the tablets which my hon. Friend has described are dangerous drugs.
§ Sir D. Walker-SmithIs the right hon. Lady undertaking any study into the effect on this position of Britain's adherence to the European Economic Community, and if so what is the result?
§ Miss BaconI think that questaion goes further than the Question which I have been asked to answer.