Addiction to Medicine

Wednesday 11th May 2011 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Anne Milton)]

I am pleased to inform the House that two reports on addiction to prescription and over-the-counter medicines are being published today. Recognising that there was a lack of information on this subject, the Department of Health commissioned two reports in 2009-10:

The National Addiction Centre was asked to conduct a literature review to bring together the published evidence on the scale of the problem and how best to respond to dependence on medicines; and

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse was asked to contact primary care trusts and treatment providers to investigate prescribing patterns and the help that is currently offered to people who develop problems.

These two reports will play a role in informing the future development of policy and services. In the Government’s drug strategy, which we launched in December, we set out an ambition to tackle dependence on all drugs, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines We need to do all we can to prevent people becoming dependent in the first place and to offer people appropriate support to recover when it does occur.

I will be leading work to involve relevant organisations and interested individuals to discuss the future action that is necessary in the light of the information contained in the reports. I look forward to discussions with Members of both Houses who have shown a long interest in this important area.

I am placing the reports in the Library. Copies are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office and to noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office.