USE OF DRUG HEROIN

Chronicle (Levin), 10 January 1949, Page 5

USE OF DRUG HEROIN

T r — tsi ■ press AssQCiatlon)

N,Z. Dodots Told To Take MoreCare

(Per

WELLINGTON, Jan. 8. Heroin, five 16 six times as tbxie as uiQip'hiiie, Ahd the filai'gih bfetwefeh its eflectiVe d'ose ahd its toxic dose very , hari'oW, has bp'come a heada'che to health authot'i'tieS ih New Zealand. HerOih iiddiction is the most difficillt of the various types of drug addictiofi to cure, and -a close watch is being kept on its use in prescriptions. Tlie D'ominion's consumption of the drug a yeai back, was exceedfed by "only ofi'e Countrj' — j'inlhhd. A eable messagp from London oh Thursday saying that the Permanfent Cehti'Al Opium Board, in its fi-rst postwar report, considers that the alarming increase in the use of heroin constit.uteS fi grove problhm, told the New Zealand health authorities hothihg. The mdssage said that in spite of the wafnihg issued in 1931, 12 of the -22 CountrieS which are the heaviest users of this 'drug have inereased their eon suinptioh since 1936, And among the worst olfefiders are New Zealand -ano Austi'Alia. The Department of Health has been fully alive to the dangef of inereased consumption of the drug and has drawti the 'atteiition of the medical pro'fessioh to the qu'anti'ties being fised in prescriptions. ' Aftet the Department had eommunicated with a nuinber of doctors who appeared to be prescribing heroib with unneeessary Irequency, the consumption of heroin in 1947 fell froiV. 7.8 kilograms to 6.4 kilograuis, and it is hoped th'at there was a further im piovemfent last year. , tSome countiies do not import or manufacture heroin. They are the

Uni'ted States, Austria, Bulgaria, Spain. Gr'eece, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazii, Chile and Colombia; and countries using less than 1 kilograffi per niillioii of population are Eire, Hblland, Ger inany, Hungary, Switzfefland> Czecho slovakia, U.S.S.R., Argentine, Indii. and Ceylon. Great Britain, Denmark', France apvl Norway use between 1 and 3 kil'ograimper million of population. New Zea land uses nearly 5 kilograms — exceeded only by Finland. It was poifited out yesterday that unless herbin is smuggled into the Do minion it is nqt nsed for any illegai purpose, but .-is- being used in ordinarv medicine. *9,-2' The extentf~t° which a doctor iiia\ thoughtles^^ increase his prescribing of hef pjn^s^shp-wn. by the_ case of a practitioner whose prescriptions fOi her'oiii in one winter month were 26 per cent. of his total prescriptions. In the corresponding month ,pf the following year) after the matter' h0d been brought to his notice, the proportion of heroin prescriptions had fallen to 2 per cent.- ' " " The Director-General of Health says that the dangerous pot.entialities of tludrug cannot be too often stresse'd. "A disquieting feature in couneetioii with daugerous-drug control is the in creased consumption of heroin," said the Director-General of Health in hireport for the year 1946-47. "This ir one of the worst of the dangerou.1' drugs so far as addietioh is eoncerned, land its manufacture and importation are both entirely prohibited in certain countries. While, therefore, it has a legitimate plac-e in medicine, it cannot be regarded as indispensable. " The importation of heroin was 4..1 kilograms in 1944, 3.6 in 1945, and 7.4 in 1946; and the consumption for thc same years was 4 kilograms, 6.3, and 7.8. Free Medieinfe. Prior to 1944, said the DirectorGeneral, the corresponding flgures had remained remafkably constant. The supply of free medicine under thc social security benefits began in 1941, but it was not expected that that Would affect the quantities of dangerous drugs consumed. That assumption proved correct, and the consumption of morphine, cbcaine and heroin remained practieally constant fip to 1944. It wa> difficuit to explain the steep f-ise in thc consumption of heroin after 1944. except as an example of a ehanging fashi'on in prescribing sueh as ocCurred from time to time. The attention of medical practiti'oners was being drawn to the in'atter) and the manner in whicl. the drug was being usbd was being closely wa'tched. Siipport of B.M.A. A spokesman f'or the Ntew Zealand braneh of the British Medical Asso'ciation said yesterday that the couircii of the B.M.A. had supported the actioli of the Health Department in b lingill g the matter to the attention of pfactitioners. The increase in the consumption of -heroiii was b'ased 'oii two or three dieffrent circumstances. It vcoul(l ilOt be dfenied that heroin was an 'eiftec : tive drug* /in providing sybip'toiilatic relief in chronic ehest compl'aints. in which a distressiii'g 'cough Wafe a ffeature. It also eofild not be d^ni'ed th'at ; be'cAuste Of tlie pharmaefeutieal benefits more people now applifed direfet "to a i doetOf for the relief of cbughS, wfifere'as beforfe thfey Would get s'omething i'iom : a cheniist, Wlio was fiof ih. a feoSi'tion tO supply a daiigerous drujz without a proper. prescription-.