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 and the Secretary of State for Scotland.
It stated that the incidence of addiction to dangerous drugs in Great Britain was small.
[4] This report showed that there had been a significant rise in the incidence of addiction to heroin and 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.
[5] It recommended the establishment of special treatment centres, especially in the London area, where addicts could be isolated from the community and treated.