Seven doctors from a private addiction clinic were accused this week by the General Medical Council of prescribing too many drugs and of failing to adequately monitor their patients' health.

Dr Colin Brewer, now retired, and his former colleagues at the Stapleford Centre, based in London and Essex, are also accused of failing to ensure that patients took the drugs themselves, rather than selling them on.

In addition, Dr Brewer is accused of seeking to interfere with potential witnesses to the GMC's Professional Conduct Committee. It is alleged that he wrote to Professor John Strang of the National Addiction Centre and Dr …