Administration of medicines

In practice the term ‘medicine’ is generally taken to mean any substance used therapeutically in the treatment of disease. The control of supply, storage, prescribing and administration of medicines is governed by the following legislation.

Policy
Medicines Act 1968
This Act controls the licensing, manufacture and distribution of medicines
and the registration of retail pharmacies. It also categorizes drugs into
three groups:

• prescription only – drugs supplied following instruction from a doctor, dentist or nurse prescriber, for example antidepressants
• non-prescription but pharmacy only – drugs that can be supplied by registered community pharmacies (chemists) but can only be sold in the presence of a pharmacist, for example antihistamines
• general sales list medicines – drugs freely obtainable from retail outlets with no prescription or pharmacist supervision, for example paracetamol.

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
This Act controls the sale and use of substances likely to cause addiction, referred to as controlled drugs (previously known as Dangerous Drugs). These include opium (heroin) and its alkaloids, along with others such as LSD, ecstasy and amphetamines. The Act divides these drugs into three classes, A, B and C, according to their potential to cause harm. Penalties are applied related to the misuse, possession or trafficking of a drug based on its classification. Class A drugs are considered the most harmful to individuals and society and therefore carry the highest penalties. If a class B drug is prepared for injection it becomes a class A drug and the penalties mirror this change. Class C carries the lightest penalties.

The position of cannabis and ecstasy within this classification are currently under review by the Home Affairs Committee of Members of Parliament.

The Act impedes the misuse of controlled drugs without prohibiting correct usage by health care professionals.

Drugs are further divided into five groups or schedules, which are:
Schedule 1 those that cannot be prescribed, for example LSD, raw opium; they may be used for research but a licence is required from the Home Office
Schedule 2 morpine, diamorphine, pethidine and amphetamines
Schedule 3 hypnotic drugs, for example barbiturates
Schedule 4 non-barbiturate sedatives, for example benzodiazipines
Schedule 5 non-prescription – cough mixtures and simple analgesia, which contain very small amounts of controlled substances, for example codeine linctus.