CONTROL OF DRUGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22344, 15 February 1936, Page 9

CONTROL OF DRUGS

NEW POISONS LIST RESTRICTIONS IN BRITAIN - [from our own* correspondent] LONDON. Jan. IS Drugs, to the easy purchase of which attention has been called frequently in Coroners' Courts, are to be brought under stricter control. The new Poisons List, issued by the Home Office, and which becomes operative on May 1, provides for the compulsory production of medical prescriptions in making purchases of veronal, alonal, dial, and other drugs of the barbituric group; amidopyrine, popularly called pry a midon ; and dinitrocresols, a drug used in slimming. Pyramidon was steted to be the cause of several recent deaths. In -susceptible persons it was found to pj-oduce a disease which destroyed the white corpuscles in the blood. The restriction on the sale of the barbiturates has been long demanded, as overdoses of these drugs have resulted in many inquests. The internal use of dinitrocresols aroused comment following the death of a girl who sought too rigorously to reduce her weight. Poisons obtained from the thyroid gland, also used for slimming, are now scheduled as one of the group which will have to be labelled with the caution: "It is dangerous to take this except under medical supervision." Insulin, a remedy for diabetes, also comes into this class. There are also included in a section of the list phenylene diamines and toluene diamines — sometimes used as hair dyes. Bottles containing one of them must be labelled in future: "This may cause serious inflammation to the skin of certain persons and should be used only in accordance with expert advice." Strychnine, after May 1, will be obtainable only as an ingredient _ in medicine. Its sale as a vermin poison is prohibited. The new Poisons List is a slightly modified, form of that recommended to the Home Office by the Poisons Board. ■ "Its most important effect," said Mr. H. N. Linstead, secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society, when interviewed, "is the enforcement of medical authority for the purchase of certain drugs which can be bought now over the counter in the ordinary way."

Reports of country stock sales apfpar on page 11.