A dossier reveals that due to the composer Sir William Walton’s later-life Ritalin dependency, officials and medical professionals made special attempts to assist him.
They used their connections to procure him “up to 2,000” tablets a year while he was living in Italy and the medication was unavailable there.
Ritalin is used to treat youngsters with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and can be used to relieve elderly patients’ weariness.
Although Sir William was’very dependent’ on medication, the just made public file does not explain why he was given the prescription.
He used to pick up Ritalin on trips to London to take to his home on Ischia in the Bay of Naples. But after 1978 his doctor was told prescribing drugs for export was unlawful.
In the following years Home Office officials made arrangements – working with the Italian ambassador in London and narcotics officials in Italy – to help him get Ritalin. He died aged 80 in 1983 on Ischia.
The Home Office Drugs Branch first visited the composer’s physician to notify him those prescribing medications for export was prohibited.
The doctor asked for more details on how precisely he should arrange for the shipping of Ritalin to Sir William and claimed to be “surprised” and “unaware of the prohibition of the export and import of restricted medications without a licence.”
A pharmacist was given an export license for 1,000 tablets for Sir William’s usage after negotiations with the Department of Dangerous Drugs at the Home Office because they were “considered to be vital life-saving medicaments to this patient.”
The Italian Ambassador in London would then receive the pills and “arrange” for their importation into Italy.
Officials cautioned that the International Conventions on the export/import of restricted pharmaceuticals “do not provide for personal importations of this kind” and that an import permit from the Italian authorities was required when the next shipment was scheduled to arrive.
The simplest course of action, according to a Home Office Drugs Branch officer, would be for Sir William or his wife to ask a pharmacist or physician on the island of Ischia to request an import license.
However, he warned that “such a difficult procedure might become rather complicated,” so his office was ready to write to the Italian Narcotics Bureau and request permission to import the medicine.