MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT 1971 (MODIFICATION) ORDER 1975 (Hansard, 13 March 1975)

§ Lord WELLS-PESTELL
My Lords, I beg to move that the Draft Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Modification) Order 1975, laid before the House on 21st January, be approved.
My Lords, the Order will add two drugs to the drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. This is the second time that such an Order has come before the House since the 1971 Act was passed. When the previous Order was considered in another place in 1973, there was some criticism that its peculiarly technical nature made it difficult for those not versed in the pharmaceutical arts to understand, and that this hampered its proper debate. To overcome any such difficulty this time, there have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses copies of a memorandum explaining the Order in rather more detail than is possible in the Explanatory Note in the Order itself, and I hope that noble Lords will have found that memorandum of some use in comprehending the Order. This does not, however, relieve me of my responsibility of presenting the Order to your Lord-ships' House and of developing the arguments for controlling the two substances contained in it.
It might be helpful to the House if I first put the Order in its statutory context by explaining the relevant provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Under the 1971 Act and its subordinate Regulations, drugs which are judged to have physically and socially harmful effects when they are misused are subjected to controls that restrict their use to legitimate medical and research purposes. The drugs are set out in Schedule 2 to the Act and are divided into three classes— A, B and C—taking account of their harm if they are misused. Offences in respect of the drugs are subject to different penalties according to the class in which the drug concerned is placed. The details of control are in the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1973.
479 From time to time it becomes necessary to modify the controlled list by adding drugs to it or by moving a drug from one class to another. This may arise from changes in the international control of narcotic drugs, or if the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which keeps under review the situation in the United Kingdom with respect to the misuse of drugs, recommends that the situation requires it. The Act provides for such changes to be made by Order in Council, and the Order which the House is now considering has the purpose of adding two substances named to the controlled list, specifically to Class A.
Of the two substances for control, the first has the international name of difenoxin. But this name has not yet been formally approved by the British Pharmacopoeia Commission and it therefore has also to be referred to in the Order by its chemical name. I hope that the House will excuse me from attempting to spell this out at length, especially as I have no other alternative with the second substance. Difenoxin has been developed in Belgium to treat diarrhoea. It has not yet, we believe, been marketed anywhere, and is not at present in use in the United Kingdom. However, as required by the international treaty on the control of narcotics (the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961), the United Nations Committee on Narcotic Drugs decided last year to add it to the list of drugs controlled under the Single Convention. This was done for two reasons—because it has been shown to produce physical dependence like morphine, and because it is a close relation of another drug called diphenoxylate which is already under international control. The United Kingdom is a party to the Convention and is therefore required to give effect to this decision by amending its domestic legislation. For this reason we are now proposing to control difenoxin under the 1971 Act. Since difenoxin produces effects like morphine and is related to diphenoxylate, it will be placed in the same class as them; that is, Class A.
The other substance for control has been designated by its chemical name. I hope noble Lords will bear with me while I attempt not only to spell it out but to try to pronounce it. It is 480 4-bromo-2, 5-dimethoxy-α-methylphene-thylamine. Fortunately for all of us, this drug has the common name of bromo-STP, and although that name has no technical or legal status, with your Lord-ships' permission I propose to use the shortened version. Bromo-STP has no use in medicine, but it has been found to be a more potent hallucinating drug than either STP, to which it is closely related in chemical structure, or LSD. These drugs are both in Class A of Schedule 2 to the Act. In this country, it was first reported as a drug of misuse in 1973. For a time no more was heard of it until about the spring of last year. It then reappeared over an increasingly wide area in the country. In March it was reported in one forensic science laboratory area; by June it was reported from five, and by December it was reported from all 10 areas. There were strong grounds for believing that it was being manufactured somewhere in this country; and all the evidence suggests that, because of the lack of controls upon it, it is being used as a substitute for and being passed off as LSD. Because of its potent effect, I do not think I need to spell out in detail the danger that such a drug presents. In the light of these circumstances, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has recommended that it should be placed under the same level of control in the 1971 Act as STP and LSD; that is, in Class A.
In conclusion, perhaps I might explain the types of control to be placed on difenoxin and on bromo-STP if this Order is approved by both Houses. What is proposed is that difenoxin, having a recognised medical use, should be available to the profession and to the public on prescription through retail pharmacies; but its manufacture and wholesale supply will be on licence only. Bromo-STP, on the other hand, which has no medical use at present, should be available only for research purposes and then only on the licence of the Home Secretary. These controls would be imposed by regulations which will be subject to the Negative Resolution procedure.
I hope that what I have said has enabled the House to grasp the purpose and nature of this Draft Order. Both its provisions have been considered by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs as is required by the 1971 Act, and it is on 481 their recommendation that these changes are proposed. My Lords, I beg to move.

§ Lord SANDYS
My Lords, the House will be grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Wells-Pestell, for explaining in such detail these two controls to be imposed on two drugs. We are also grateful to the noble Lord for placing in the Library the memorandum which he has mentioned in his statement. From this side of the House we are quite sure that the action of the Government in taking the advice in this regard of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is clearly the right path to follow.
Purely for purposes of verification I should like to know whether there is some allocation of titling for the letters " STP " for bromo-STP—the non-medical drug —if the noble Lord is able to give us this information. Of course, this forms part of a much wider application of the control of drugs accepted throughout the world, or, at least, throughout parts of the civilised world where narcotics are accepted as being so dangerous as to need to be placed under a very strict and careful control by Governments. It is fortunate, therefore, that, although there are gaps in this system, in this country we have the benefit of the Advisory Council in this regard. We have no further comments, other than to welcome the Order and to seek elucidation on the point of Bromo-STP.

§ Lord WELLS-PESTELL
My Lords, as there are not many noble Lords in your Lordships' House tonight, perhaps I could tell you what "STP" stands for. When I do, your Lordships may feel that we need some in your Lordships' House from time to time. I understand that " STP " stands for " Serenity, tranquillity and peace ", and such a drug, I think, might well be of service at times in your Lordships' House.