What is a controlled drug?

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 defines controlled drugs (CDs) as drugs which are ‘dangerous or otherwise harmful’ and have the potential for abuse or misuse. To protect patients and the public, stringent safeguards are put in place to control the availability of these drugs.

List of most commonly encountered drugs currently controlled under the misuse of drugs legislation – GOV.UK

Lost or stolen controlled drugs

The loss or theft of a controlled drug prescription will be recorded on your medical record to enable the Practice to monitor/audit.

If the prescription is lost or stolen, you must report the incident to the police and obtain a crime number.

‘Lost or Stolen’ prescriptions will be issued once with the provision of a police number, but this will not be repeated.

Patients whose prescription has been lost or stolen once will be asked to sign a patient contract to agree that they will not be issued with further scripts in these circumstances, and this will be added as an alert to their notes.

If you have any questions with regards to this policy please do not hesitate to book a routine appointment with your GP or one of our practice pharmacists.