Although the prevalence of misuse of methylamphetamine is believed to be currently low in the United Kingdom (UK), the Association of Chief Police Officers is receiving increasing levels of intelligence about the prevalence of methylamphetamine. If methylamphetamine did secure a hold in the UK, the consequences would undoubtedly be very serious. The international experience shows that misuse can spread rapidly when certain conditions prevail and the advice of UK enforcement authorities is that most of these conditions now prevail in the UK.
The experience of comparator countries such as the United States of America (USA), Australia and New Zealand is that once a small number of illicit domestic laboratories become established, a sharper rise in prevalence in these countries has followed. A police force in America reported that if the USA had made ephedrine and pseudoephedrine based products prescription only at a much earlier stage, they would have prevented to a large extent the massive growth in small home made laboratories. The regulatory action taken by the Food and Drug Administration has contributed to a sharp decrease in domestic methylamphetamine production.
The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) also considered non-statutory options to restrict the availability of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, such as rigorous supervision of pharmacy sales of single packs, and concluded that these measures alone would not be sufficient to protect public health. In order to protect public health in the UK, the CHM concluded that a consultation exercise should be conducted on changing the legal status of these medicines, together with restricting the pack size. Ministers accepted this advice and a full public consultation exercise commenced on 7 March 2007 and can be accessed via the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) website at www.mhra.gov.uk. The MHRA would welcome views on the merits of all the consultation proposals and is hosting a meeting with key stakeholders next month.