Lord INGLEWOODasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are aware of the increasing use of barbiturates by drug addicts and what plans they have for adding any of the barbiturates normally prescribed by medical practitioners, to the Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Harris of Greenwich)A growing demand for certain barbiturate preparations among those who misuse drugs has been the concern, for some 10 years, of both the former Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence and of its successor the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. In 1975, at the instigation of the Advisory Council, a campaign on the use and restriction of barbiturates (CURB) was begun under the direction of a voluntary group of members of the medical and dental professions with the object of persuading doctors to reduce their prescribing and members of the public 1115WA to reduce their use of these drugs. The campaign will close at the end of September. Its results are being monitored and, in the light of them, the Advisory Council will return to the question whether to recommend that the preparations concerned should be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.