Pic: damienfranco.com
This from today's Independent newspaper.
Action on Britain's epidemic of pill addiction
Peer to use House of Lords speech to reveal relative's addiction to prescription drug.
The Department of Health has launched a review of the million-plus patients addicted to prescribed drugs in the UK in a tacit admission that attempts to control the problem over the last two decades have failed.
An estimated 1.5 million people are addicted to prescription and over-the-counter drugs including benzodiazepine tranquillisers, sleeping pills such as zoplicone - implicated in the death of Hollywood star Heath Ledger - and painkillers containing codeine.
The review, which began in July, was disclosed in a Westminster hall debate last June but has not been formally announced. It followed a report by the House of Commons all-party group on drugs misuse which called for better training for doctors in the risks of over-prescribing, greater awareness of the scale of addiction and more centres for treatment.
The article continues here and highlights the story of a man who was prescribed the SNRi Efexor and Clonazepam, a benzodiazepine, to help him sleep following the failure of a business venture in 2001.
It's a decent article and this subject matter has been raised my myself and other advocates to the MHRA on numerous occasions.
Hat - Tip: Steph & Cyndi
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