Drug Abuse in the Medical Profession: Addict Doctors and the Home Office

Summary Drug abuse and alcoholism by medical practitioners raises special issues of their fitness to practice and of medical discipline. This paper explores the issue of drug abuse by medical practitioners, using the information about addict doctors kept by the Home Office Drugs Branch. The addict doctors found in this study were most often discovered through police activity, had often been convicted for drug offences, had appeared on disciplinary charges before the General Medical Council, and suffered severe occupational consequences.