OHE Publications

Mankind has used mind affecting drugs throughout and probably for many thousands of years before recorded history. In European culture alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and to a lesser extent opium have played particularly important roles as psychoactive agents; but in other parts of the world a wide variety of alternative intoxicants, stimulants and hallucinogens have been employed. These include cocaine, mescaline and cannabis.

Health Economics delivered a paper to the Pharmaceutical Sciences Section of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science at the Academy of Sciences in Canberra. The burden of this paper was that it was a fundamental misconception to believe that price competition was lacking in the prescription medicine market, at least in the context of the British National Health Service.

At first sight it might seem disturbing that accidental deaths are contributing an increasing proportion of the total mortality amongst young people in the UK. In 1932, for example, approximately 6 per cent of all deaths in England and Wales in the 1-4 years old age group were due to accidents. By 1972 the proportion was 24 per cent. For the 5-14 age group the rise was from 12 per cent to 37 per cent and in the 15-24 year old age group 48 per cent of all deaths in 1972 were due to accidents compared with only 12 per cent in 1932. Yet in reality the picture is much more encouraging.

The 'venereal' diseases of syphilis and gonorrhoea, whilst deserving close attention, do not constitute one of the major health problems of Britain today. In 1972, in England, about one man in every 10,000 and one woman in every 30,000 consulted a venereal disease clinic with syphilis. For gonorrhoea about one man in 600 and one woman in 1,200 consulted clinics in the course of the year. Treatment usually presents no serious problems in this country, although some commentators have been concerned by the rising trend in gonococcal infections.