New warning over abuse of prescription drugs

Drug experts have issued a new warning about growing abuse of two prescription drugs which can lead to respiratory failure and even death.

An annual snapshot of the drug scene in Britain by the charity Drugscope found the pregabalin and gabapentin – used to treat epilepsy, pain or anxiety – are being increasingly abused as recreational drugs.

Abusers are taking the drugs – available for as little as 50p per capsule – alongside alcohol and opiates such as heroin.

The survey also warned that use of “legal highs” such as synthetic cannabinoids such as “Black Mamba”.

The drugs are increasingly being smoked by “socially excluded teenagers” as well as drug users and prisoners, it said.

The report also reported that street-level purity of many Class A hard drugs rose significantly in many parts of the country last year.

The purity of cocaine, ecstasy and heroin has doubled or tripled, leading to a greater of overdoses, it warned.

In Bristol, police said cocaine purity jumped from an average of 10 per cent in 2013 to 30 per cent in 2014, while heroin had risen from an average purity of 10-15 per cent to 20-25 per cent, the report found.

Drug workers said users have displayed extreme intoxication and risky behaviours while on pregabalin and gabapentin.

DrugScope’s report said the two drugs were thought to have been linked with 13 deaths in 2011 but latest Office for National Statistics data indictated they were mentioned on 41 death certificates in 2013.

“Used in combination with other depressants, they can cause drowsiness, sedation, respiratory failure and death,” it said.

Drug workers have asked GPs to issue fewer prescriptions for the drugs, the report said.

“A drug worker estimated that in one homeless hostel in Bristol, 70 per cent of residents were using pregabalin, with only some being prescribed the drug,” it went on.

Last September the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, the Government’s drug adviser, warned pregabalin cannot be banned because of its legitimate medical uses.

The charity also raised concern about rising drug-related deaths after findings from the survey suggest that many of the key risk factors have been heightened in 2014, including the purity of drugs.

Data published by the ONS revealed that 1,957 drug misuse deaths were registered in 2013, up 20 per cent on the figure for 2012.

Deaths related to heroin or morphine, the substances most commonly involved in drug poisoning deaths, rose 32 per cent.

Marcus Roberts, DrugScope chief executive, said: “Coupled with substantial rises in ecstasy deaths and the challenges posed by new psychoactive substances in recent years, there is clearly much work to do in continuing to warn people about the dangers of drug taking.

“We need to continue to do all we can to reduce the harms that drugs cause.” 

Source The Telegraph