STRICTER controls on the way medication is dispensed to drug addicts are needed, a police authority boss has warned.

Councillor Ken Walker, chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, believes new laws should be introduced to ensure people who are prescribed methadone take their dose in chemist's shops.

His call came after a bottle of the heroin substitute was found in Falklands Street, Middlesbrough. He is concerned it could have been taken by a child.

Coun Walker said: "Meth-adone may well be very useful as a treatment for drug users, but there must be proper controls in place to ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands.

"I will be raising the issue with the Home Office and stressing the need for urgent action to prevent incidents, which could have potentially lethal consequences."

Coun Walker said he planned to talk to the chemist who dispensed the drug because he believed it was only handed over for consumption on the premises.

But Andrew Moule, of A C Moule, in Parliament Road, where the prescription was collected, said Coun Walker's understanding of the situation was incorrect.

He said the role of a pharmacist was to dispense medication in accordance with a doctor's prescription and not to prescribe the drug themselves.

Mr Moule said: "We do not decide if a patient is supervised or not. This is decided by a doctor.

"Supervised is written on the prescription if the client is required to take methadone on the premises.

"This client was not written up for supervision and so was entitled to take their methadone out of the shop.

"We share Coun Walker's concerns and would welcome an increase in supervised prescribing where appropriate."

Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust's (PCT) head of medicine management Jo-anne Linton said she supported Mr Moule's assertion that it was not up to him to ensure methadone users were supervised.

She said any medication, not just methadone, could be dangerous if taken by anyone but the patient.

"Simple paracetamol can be dangerous if it is left lying around and falls into the wrong hands, or if it is disposed of in the wrong way."