§ 11.5 a.m.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government, with reference to a statement made on their behalf on 15th December, 1955, confirming that in their opinion they have powers to restrict the amount of heroin in the coming year to that needed here by the profession, taking account of stocks which already exist, whether they will state (1) if those alleged powers do not in fact represent powers to prohibit the manufacture of heroin; and (2) in what manner it is proposed to ascertain the precise amount of stocks which already exist.]
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (LORD MANCROFT)My Lords, Section 9 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1951, gives the Secretary of State power, for the purpose of preventing the improper use of certain drugs, including heroin, to make regulations for controlling the manufacture of those drugs by prohibiting their manufacture except by persons licensed or otherwise authorised and upon premises licensed by a Secretary of State and subject to any conditions specified in the licence or authority, and regulations have been made accordingly. The Secretary of State is advised that it is proper for him by way of such conditions to limit the manufacture of the drugs to such quantities as are required for legitimate use. As regards the second part of the noble Viscount's Question, licensed manufacturers and wholesalers have been required, as a condition of their licences, to make quarterly returns of stocks since the ratification of the Limitation Convention of 1931.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I beg to thank the noble Lord for his Answer. May I ask whether the stockpiling in hospitals is in any way affected; and, if so, to what extent the Home Office are taking that into their calculations of the amount of existing stocks?
§ LORD MANCROFTMy Lords, there is available at the moment with the wholesalers about nine months' supply, at the normal rate of demand. That takes no account whatever of the stocks already in the hands of the hospitals, doctors, chemists' shops and veterinary surgeons. Obviously, it would require a complicated stocktaking process to discover how much that is.