Call for drug use education

Press, 17 March 1977, Page 25

Call for drug use education

Education programmes aimed at reducing drug use would be preferable to introducing charges on prescriptions to cut down on the country's drug bill, said the national president of the Association of Social Workers, (Mr M. A. O'Brien). In a letter to the Minister of Health (Mr Gill), Mr O’Brien said that the association did not believe that transferring drug cost from the Government to the consumer would reduce the ottal intake of drugs. Key factors in a programme to reduce drug intake would include educating the public not to expect or demand a quick drug remedy with each visit to the general practitioner. When drugs were necessary the patient should use them wisely and as directed by the doctor, Mr O’Brien said. “Doctors practising in the community and in hospitals should prescribe drugs in a more limited way, and in smaller quantities with repeats available,” he said. The association also thinks that charges on prescriptions would deny medical care to those in difficult financial circumstances.