# Brain Committee

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
The '''Interdepartmental Committee on Drug Addiction''', commonly called the ''' Brain Committee''' after its chairman Sir [Russell Brain](/source/Russell_Brain), was created by the [Home Office](/source/Home_Office) in 1958 to consider issues related to drugs and drug addiction in the United Kingdom. The committee explored whether or not certain drugs should be considered addictive or habit-forming; examined whether there was a medical need to provide special, including institutional, treatment outside the resources already available, for persons addicted to drugs; and made recommendations, including proposals for administrative measures, to the [Minister of Health](/source/Cabinet_Secretary_for_Health_and_Wellbeing) and the [Secretary of State for Scotland](/source/Secretary_of_State_for_Scotland).

The committee produced two reports.

== The First Brain Report ==
The first report is also known as '''The Report of the Second Inter-departmental Committee on Drug Addiction''',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.release.org.uk/drugs-law/drugs-through-time/1940-2008 |title=Drugs Through Time: 1940-2008 |accessdate=2011-01-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707234533/http://www.release.org.uk/drugs-law/drugs-through-time/1940-2008 |archivedate=2010-07-07 }}</ref> and it was published in 1961.  It stated that the incidence of addiction to dangerous drugs in Great Britain was small.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.drugtext.org/First-Brain-Report/drug-addiction-1.html|title = Drugtext}}</ref>  This was the same conclusion drawn by the previous committee, The [Rolleston Committee](/source/Rolleston_Committee), in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.drugtext.org/Table/Rolleston-Report/|title=Rolleston Report &#124; Table|access-date=28 January 2011|archive-date=17 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417125310/http://www.drugtext.org/Table/Rolleston-Report/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== The Second Brain Report ==
The second report was published in 1964.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk/4r_page.asp?id=3114|title=The Shipman Inquiry - Fourth Report - The Fourth Report}}</ref>  This report showed that there had been a significant rise in the incidence of addiction to [heroin](/source/heroin) and [cocaine](/source/cocaine), and that the main source of supply was a small number of overprescribing doctors.  The Rolleston defined addiction as an individualised pathology, whilst the second Brain report explicitly described the condition as a socially infectious one.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usarx.com/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016232133/http://www.drugtext.org/Addiction/changing-images-of-the-addict-and-addiction.html|url-status=dead|title=USARx.com &#124; Expert Medication and Health Information You Can Trust|archivedate=16 October 2012|website=www.usarx.com}}</ref> It recommended the establishment of special treatment centres, especially in the London area, where addicts could be isolated from the community and treated.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.drugtext.org/Second-Brain-Report/drug-addiction-2.html |title=DRUG ADDICTION (2nd Brain Report) &#124; Second Brain Report |accessdate=2011-08-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927050525/http://www.drugtext.org/Second-Brain-Report/drug-addiction-2.html |archivedate=2011-09-27 }}</ref> These became known as Drug Dependency Units or DDUs.

== Evolution ==
A recommendation of the second committee was to set up a Standing Advisory Committee to keep under review the whole problem of drug dependence. This drew on evidence provided  by doctors, and eventually they produced a report, the [Wootton Report](/source/Wootton_Report).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.drugtext.org/The-Strange-Case-of-Pot/7-the-wootton-report.html |title=7 the Wootton Report &#124; the Strange Case of Pot |access-date=2011-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417220632/https://www.drugtext.org/The-Strange-Case-of-Pot/7-the-wootton-report.html |archive-date=2011-04-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Home Office (United Kingdom)
Category:Substance dependence
Category:Government agencies established in 1958
Category:History of mental health in the United Kingdom
Category:Drugs in the United Kingdom
Category:1958 establishments in the United Kingdom

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Brain Committee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Committee) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Committee?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.