Treatment of drug-dependent patients, 1968-1969

Attention has been given from time to time to the question of what happened in drug-dependence clinics in the early days of their operation. It has recently come to my attention that records of meetings of consultants, held at the Department of Health, during that period, have not been kept. The following memorandum was submitted by me to a meeting held on 8 September 1969 under the title 'Practical matters relating to the treatment of drug-dependent patients'. Unfortunately, I have no record of the comments made on it, but I do not recall any major disagreement with this statement. I hope that this document, reprinted below in full, may be of historical interest.