§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he intends to propose to control the availability and promotion of gammahydroxybutyrate; and what assessment he has made, and on what basis, about the availability of gammahydroxybutyrate in England and Wales and its promotion on a commercial basis.
§ Mr. MacleanGammahydroxybutyrate—also known as GHB or GBH—is manufactured in the United States of America for use as an anaesthetic. It is not available as a licensed medicine in the United Kingdom but the manufacture, advertisement and sale of the substance fall within the scope of the Medicines Act 1968 as it has pharmacological effects.
We understand that the Medicines Control Agency, an agency of the Department of Health, is currently investigating its promotion and sale following recent press reports that the substance is being marketed in the United Kingdom. The maximum penalties on indictment for advertising, production and sale of an unlicensed medicine are two years imprisonment and/or a fine of £5,000.
Gammahydroxybutyrate has only recently emerged as a drug of misuse in the United Kingdom. We understand it has a stimulant effect if taken in small doses and that larger doses can cause vomiting, drowsiness, depressed breathing and heart rate. The first reported seizure of GHB was made in April this year using powers under the Medicines Act 1968.
There have been up to now only a few reports of gammahydroxybutyrate misuse and we have no plans at present to bring it under the controls of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The key criterion for bringing a substance under the Act's controls is whether misuse of the substance has or is capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a social problem. The position is being kept under review.