When HEROIN was legal....a popular prescription medicine as the 1950s

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4647018.stm

When heroin was legal

By Duffy

BBC News Magazine

As recently as the 1950s, heroin was a popular medicine prescribed

by family doctors. But growing fears about the drug's addictiveness

led to the start of it becoming criminalised, 50 years ago this

week.

" The Case for Heroin " - so ran the headline for the Times leader

column of Tuesday, 14 June 1955.

In the course of a short, lucid article the newspaper which had long

been the mouthpiece of Establishment Britain set out its argument in

favour of heroin.

In the context of all that has happened since, from heroin's link

with violent crime to the transfer of HIV among users who share

needles, as well as countless other social ills, such an article

today would seem unthinkable in all but the most libertarian of

newspapers.

HEROIN CLAMPDOWN

Globally, the clampdown of heroin was in full swing by the mid 1950s

In 1956 the US made the supply of heroin to a minor a capital offence

UK one of the few countries where diamorphine (heroin) still

available on prescription

It is still prescribed to about 1% (about 500 people) of addicts as

treatment

Macfarlan is the only legal producer in the UK

(Source: Dr Tom Carnwath)

But in mid-1950s Britain, the spectre of drug addiction was a long

way from the top of the public's concerns.

In fact, as the Times editorial states, in 1955 there were only 317

addicts to " manufactured " drugs in the whole of Britain, of which

just 15% were dependent on heroin. That's a national total of 47.5

heroin addicts. History, regrettably, does not record the precise

circumstances of the half-addict.

By contrast, in the US, where heroin was outlawed in 1925, it was

said to be a " major social problem " .

But who were this handful of heroin addicts?

According to Dr Mills, a historian who has traced drug use

through the 20th century, they tended to be doctors or middle-class

patients who could afford to sustain a habit.

" In the 1930s, it was really the well-to-do crowd. The working

classes might have a bit of heroin in the medicine prescribed to

them but it wouldn't be enough to form a dependency, " says Dr Mills.

Clearly, the fact heroin was legal and widely prescribed for common

ailments such as coughs, colds and diarrhoea, as well as a pain

killer, had not led to the sort of widespread dependency that

opponents of legalisation fear it would do if legalised today.

In fact, heroin's emergence on to the medical stage was so low-key

it effectively sat on the shelf for 20 years. First synthesised in

1874 by an English chemist, from morphine (an opiate) and acetic

anhydride, and medically known as diacetylmorphine, it was picked up

by the German drugs firm Bayer in 1898.

The name heroin probably derives from the German word heroisch,

which means powerful. And it certainly was, with tests proving it

was up to eight times stronger a painkiller than morphine.

Bad reputation

During the 19th Century, opiates had become a valuable commodity for

British-run India, where they were grown and sold to China, which

was home to millions of opium addicts. Although this trade began to

decline in the early 20th century, the rise of opiate-based

medicines was encouraged by the British.

Jazz greats had known habits

But in the US it was already starting to get a bad reputation as an

addictive drug that could produce intense euphoria. The Americans

set about banning this dangerous new narcotic and put pressure on

other countries to do the same.

In the UK, however, there was great resistance from medics who

celebrated heroin's analgesic qualities. Nevertheless, the Home

Office set up a drugs branch and began keeping tabs on the small

number of heroin abusers.

In the 1930s, this amounted to little more than " one very small

circle of heroin addicts " , according to Henry " Bing " Spear, who

became the government's anti-drug enforcement chief.

According to Spear, the group's three leaders had picked up their

habit in mainland Europe and returned there to restock with heroin.

Selling brown

" They met at chemists and doctors' surgeries, " according to

Davenport-Hines, in his book The Pursuit of Oblivion. " There was a

bit of borrowing and lending but no evidence of widespread selling. "

Photos of addict 's body were used in an anti-heroin campaign

" The police had a very tight rein on what was going on. The Home

Office kept a register of addicts and there was never more than 500

at one time, " says Dr Mills.

After WWII, the illegal drugs scene began to take off in the UK, but

was mainly confined to cannabis. In US, however, heroin, despite

being illegal, was finding its way into the bohemian jazz scene.

Musicians such as Miles , Charlie and Billie Holiday all

had documented habits.

Britain was tame by comparison, says be-bop trumpeter Dizzy Reece,

who came to London in 1948, aged 17.

" You never saw [heroin] in the clubs. Sure, some people were taking

it but it was in private, at their house, " says Reece, speaking from

his home in New York.

" But I do remember people queuing up outside Boots chemist in

Piccadilly Circus at midnight to get their heroin pills, on

prescription. They called them 'jacks' - heroin pills. "

What illegal activity there was, was pounced on by the police who

launched a sting in September 1951, after hearing that a man

named " Mark " was selling " white drugs " in London's West End. The

man - real name Saunders - was arrested and found to

have supplied heroin to 14 people.

By the mid 50s, international pressure was growing on the Eden

government to ban heroin manufacture, imports and exports. And

despite committing to such action in 1955, it retreated from the ban

on manufacturing in response to doctors' protests, and, perhaps, the

Times's leader column.