Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2018
Since the implementation in April 1968 of the 1967 Dangerous Drugs Act, it has been illegal for any doctors except those working in drug centres to prescribe heroin. With the consequent introduction of the methadone maintenance clinics there has been a definite change in the overall pattern of addiction, largely governed by drug availability. It is difficult to estimate the extent of dependence on, or misuse of, barbiturates, but it is likely that the figure for the United Kingdom may be in the order of 150 to 250 per 100,000 (Bewley, 1970). In a recent study of sedative abuse, Mitcheson et al. (1970) found that 95 per cent of the heroin addicts interviewed had used sedatives.
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