Fwd: Valium to be ranked alongside morphine in list of 'danger drugs'

April 24, 2003

SSRI-Research , JustSayNo wrote:

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Valium to be ranked alongside morphine in list of 'danger drugs'

story=398834 & host=3 & dir=59

By Jo Dillon, Deputy Political Editor

20 April 2003

Valium - dubbed " mother's little helper " - is to be classed in the

same

category as morphine in moves to tighten controls on anti-anxiety

drugs and

tranquillisers, campaigners have been told.

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who in opposition called the

addiction

of an estimated one million Britons to benzodiazepines a " national

scandal " ,

is to order a review of the way such drugs are handled and prescribed.

Ministers have told campaigners they will reclassify the drugs from

Schedule

4 to Schedule 2 to prevent them from being prescribed repeatedly, and

to

ensure pharmacists keep them locked up.

The drugs in question include diazepam, known under the brand name of

Valium, the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam or Xanax, and the fast-acting

flunitrazepam, branded as Rohypnol, which has been used in drug-

Although doctors are advised to prescribe the drugs only for up to 28

days,

many people have stayed on them for years. Addicts complain of side

effects

including memory loss, aggression and fatigue.

From 1990 to 1996, Home Office figures show that 1,810 deaths were

blamed on

benzodiazepines - more than the total for heroin and cocaine.

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