Attack on drugs transport rules

Press, 4 December 1978, Page 4

Attack on drugs transport rules

PA New Plymouth t < The theft of potentially dangerous drugs from a truck 1 in Hawera. on Thursday illus- , trated the inadequacy of j present procedures for trans- ( porting drugs said the mana- t ger of a New Plymouth j transport firm. ft Mr M. D. Shearer said he was concerned that drugs f were being carried in un- < locked trucks. i "I gather that the stolen . drugs were not covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act. But.i thgv were still potentially < dangerous and were carried i in such a way that they were i left wide open to the public. Obviously there is a need for special carriers for drugs,” he said. The drugs were going to a Hawera chemist. The police i describe them as possibly fatal if taken in excess. Thev were anti-depressants. The police were concerned that

they might be found by chil-i dren. Mr Shearer said that his firm. Security Escorts, Ltd, had applied to the Transport Licensing Authority for a licence to carry drugs for pharmacy wholesalers, but the application had been rejected after opposition from other district carriers. Instead, the authority had granted his firm a‘ licence to I carry only drugs specified, under the Misuse of Drugs Act. • “This means we can only! transport about -seven different drugs and it would be uneconomical to do so. ‘ Chemists do not often handle the highly dangerous drugs,: but they do use a lot of other drugs not specified in the act," Mr Shearer said. “It is essential that drugs I should be carried by vehicles! which are completely lockable and which are driven by! registered guards," said Mr Shearer.