What type of legislation is the medicines act 1968

Access to medicines is determined by law, and the underpinning primary legislation for this is enshrined in the Medicines Act This includes rights to access, supply, administer and prescribe medicines.

Secondary legislation sometimes known as delegated legislation is laid in Parliament in the form of a Statutory Instrument. Each time this occurs, a further Statutory Instrument is introduced, superceding previous versions, or augmenting them.

Over time, this has meant that podiatrists have been granted powers to access and use medicines on several occasions, each time changing expanding slightly the range of medicines and changing rights to access, supply, administer or prescribe medicines. This has occurred incrementally over a period of more than 30 years. Since 1st July smoking in public places has been banned in the UK.

It is an offence to sell or supply them to another person. July — Raw magic mushrooms classified as a Class A drug. Previously, only prepared such as dried or stewed magic mushrooms were classified as Class A drugs. January — Ketamine classified as a Class C drug.

December — Spice, a synthetic cannabinoid, classified as a Class B drug. April — Mephedrone and other cathinone derivatives classified as Class B drugs. July — Naphyrone, a stimulant drug closely related to the cathinone family, and often marketed as NRG-1, classified as a Class B drug.

April — Methoxetamine, a ketamine substitute, is given the first of a new kind of drug control, a Temporary Class Drug Order TCDO , which bans its sale, but not possession, for up to 12 months while further classification is considered. July — Classification of khat, a herbal stimulant, as a Class C drug announced.

June — Ketamine reclassified from Class C to Class B in response to concerns about damage to the bladder from long term use. Lisdexamphetamine, a medicine which converts into amphetamine in the body, is classified as Class B. Tramadol, an opioid painkiller, is classified as Class C, as are Zaleplon and Zopiclone, which are sedatives similar to the already-classified Zolpidem. March — New driving offence created which sets blood concentration limits for legal and illegal drugs March — ACMD recommend that poppers Alkyl nitrites should not be covered by the new Psychoactive Substances Act.

May — Psychoactive Substances Act comes into force. Possession of these drugs is now a crime. July — Psychoactive Substances Bill: evaluation review. Maximum sentences differ according to the nature of the offence — less for possession; more for trafficking, production, or for allowing premises to be used for producing or supplying drugs.

They also vary according to how harmful the drug is thought to be. Most drug offenders are convicted of unlawful possession. Most controlled drugs have medical uses, others may be of scientific interest, so the Act allows the government to authorise possession, supply, production and import or export of drugs to meet medical or scientific needs.

All the other drugs are available for normal medical uses. Some very dilute, non-injectable preparations of controlled drugs — because they are so unlikely to be misused — can be bought over the counter without a prescription, but only from a pharmacy eg, some cough medicines and anti-diarrhoea mixtures containing opiates. Medicines available in this way can also legally be possessed by anyone.

The same also applies to benzodiazepine tranquillisers and hypnotics except temazepam and Rohypnol even though these drugs can only be legally obtained on prescription. Additional regulations effectively restrict the ability to prescribe heroin, dipipanone and cocaine for the treatment of addiction to a few specially licensed doctors.

These drugs are the most stringently controlled. They are not authorised for medical use and can only be supplied, possessed or administered in exceptional circumstances under a special Home Office licence, usually only for research purposes. Examples include cannabis, coca leaf, ecstasy, LSD, raw opium and psilocin when extracted from magic mushrooms.

These drugs are available for medical use and can be prescribed by doctors. It is illegal for people to be in possession of these drugs without having been prescribed them by a doctor.

It is not an offence to be in possession of these drugs if a doctor has prescribed them to you. Schedule 2 drugs include amphetamines, cocaine, dihydrocodeine DF s , Diconal, heroin, methadone, morphine, opium in medicinal form, pethidine and Ritalin. They are subject to strict record keeping and storage in pharmacies.

Schedule 3 drugs include barbiturates, flunitrazepam Rohypnol and temazepam tranquillisers and are subject to restrictions on prescription writing. These drugs have recently been divided into two parts. Part 1 comprises most minor tranquillisers other than Rohypnol and temazepam and eight other substances. This new scheduling means that it is now illegal to be in possession of all minor tranquillisers without a prescription. Part 2 drugs comprise anabolic steroids, which can be legally possessed in medicinal form without a prescription but are illegal to supply to other people.

At the other end of the scale is schedule 5, listing preparations of drugs considered to pose minimal risk of abuse. Some of these dilute, small-dose, non-injectable preparations are allowed to be sold over-the-counter at a pharmacy without a prescription, and all may be possessed by anyone with impunity. Some legislation has been revised to a point, but much is still only available as the original version. Lists of amending regulations, where presented here under a piece of legislation, may not be complete.

Please note that the Human Medicines Regulations repealed aspects of the Medicines Act as follows:. The first comprehensive licensing system for medicines in the UK was the Medicines Act of Following its introduction, much secondary legislation and many amendments were made. The government consolidated medicines legislation, including much of the Medicines Act , into one set of new regulations, the Human Medicines Regulations , which came into operation on 14 August Veterinary medicines were removed from the scope of the Medicines Act in with the introduction of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations.

The Act provided a system of licensing for manufacturing and dealing in medicines. Some exemptions were included for certain persons, mainly to facilitate good healthcare in relation to medicines.

Medicines which are controlled under Misuse of Drugs legislation are also subject to medicines legislation and continue to fall into the categories of Prescription Only Medicines or Pharmacy medicines as appropriate.

The Act described arrangements for pharmacy businesses, including the registration of pharmacy premises. The use of titles such as 'pharmacist' and descriptions such as 'pharmacy' were restricted to use in accordance with the provisions of the Act. These provisions remain in force in Northern Ireland. These Regulations make provision about the duties of responsible pharmacists who are required, by virtue of section 72A of the Medicines Act , to secure the safe and effective running of a pharmacy business at the premises from which it is carried on.

The whole of the Order except articles 1 1 to 5 , 5 and 10 and Schedules 1 and 2, was revoked and consolidated by the Human Medicine Regulations which came into force on 14 August This Order, as amended, specified the descriptions and classes of prescription only medicines i.

Many medicinal products were included in a class of such medicines by reason of their Marketing Authorisation, substances contained in them see Schedule 1 of the Order but others were included because of other criteria, such as their method of administration see Article 3. In many cases the provisions of the Medicines Act applied subject to exemptions See Articles 4 and 5 to 13 and Schedule 1.

Provisions for Prescribers, Prescriptions, Exemptions for emergency sale or supply, and Patient Group Directions were included. The whole of the Regulations was revoked and consolidated by the Human Medicine Regulations which came into force on 14 August These Regulations, as amended, provided that, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions in relation to the prescriptions which they gave, doctors and dentists in an EEA State other than the UK, or in Switzerland were appropriate practitioners within the meaning of section 58 2 a of the Medicines Act for medicinal products other than those which are controlled drugs in Schedules 1, 2 and 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations Northern Ireland