[Report 1970] / Medical Officer of Health, Lampeter Borough.
- Lampeter (Wales). Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1970
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1970] / Medical Officer of Health, Lampeter Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
7/46
![(iii) diseases which had recessitated the prescription of these drugs. Taen the situation changed. People began to teJte other kinds of drugs - some of these drugs had only recently been synthesized - and a new class of young person was introduced to the pernicious habit. The nunber of young addicts to the hard drugs (heroin, morphia and cocaine) escalated at an alarming rate, and new legislation was introduced to control the drugs and to deal with the offenders Special treatment centres .^re established in 1968 to treat registered addicts, and. the prescribing of these hard drugs was restricted to certain doctors only. It has become apparent, however, that as soon as one drug is controlled, another tskes its place. Tlie taking of Amphetamines (»pep pills”) by mouth was followed by the infection of Aiiphetamines into the veinj the talcing of barbit- urates by mouth is even now being followed by their iuection, and the results are horrifying and the damage permanent. Cannahis smoking is becoming_a not un- common habit, and Lysergic acid dieihylamide (LSD) is now widely available. Indeed LSD is easily administered to anybody without his knowledge, because it is colourless, odourless and tasteless and it is potent in minute dosage - one ounce will yield 300,000 adult doses. Apart frora the possible imaiediate disastrous effects, tile taking of only one dose of LSD may cause recurring mental illness, requiring admission to a mental hospital. We mst be on our guard at this time of accelerating social change to pro- tect our adolescent population against these hazards. We mst be aware of tiie risks of drug-taking, and of the fact that there is a hierarchy of danger, which is by no means static, due to new uses of known drugs, and the appearance of new drugs upon the illicit market. These new drugs may have to be controlled from time to tir.©, for as the Ex]©rt Gomnittee on Drug Dependence of the World Health](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2885262x_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
