Panorama uncovers major addiction problem

Panorama uncovers major addiction problem

An exclusive Panorama poll has revealed an addiction problem much more widespread, and receiving much less attention, than heroin addiction. Shelley Jofre reports on the alarming scale of the problem and the Government's failure to deal with it.

The NOP poll carried out for Panorama suggests that over one and a half million adults have been prescribed the drugs long-term, and many of them across the country have become addicted.

The investigation reveals that doctors are routinely prescribing drugs they know can cause addiction and a range of serious side effects. GPs were told years ago they should not prescribe more than a four-week supply of benzodiazepine tranquillisers.

Yet the poll results show that 28 percent said they had been on them, not for the recommended four weeks, but in fact for more than ten years.

Almost two thousand people were asked whether they'd been taking benzodiazepines on prescription for longer than 4 months. Over 3 percent said yes - that is over one and a half million people if the same pattern is repeated across the adult population.

Panorama asked those taking benzodiazepines how long they had been on them

Hidden problem

Shelley Jofre surveys old prescriptions in storage

Millions of old prescriptions are stored in a warehouse near Newcastle, so the government can keep an eye on how much the NHS is spending on drugs. But, despite the warnings given to GPs, the Department of Health has no idea how many patients have been on the drugs for more than the recommended four weeks.

The government's Mental Health Czar, Professor Louis Appleby, acknowledges the fact that the collection of data does not reveal the true extent of the problem of over-prescription.

We need to do more than simply tell doctors what to do

Professor Appleby

He says, "It doesn't tell us what we particularly need to know which is how many people take those drugs long-term and what measures are then taken to get them off."

Since the government don't know how many people are on these drugs long-term, Panorama commissioned the NOP poll to find out. The disturbing results are revealed in the programme on Sunday for the first time.

Wasted resources?

Professor Appleby says "There's no way of defending that (the scale of the problem) except to say that in order to get people off benzodiazepines you need to have a fairly comprehensive approach to the problem... we need to do more than simply tell doctors what to do."

He concedes that the over-prescribing of benzodiazepine tranquillisers and the resultant costs could not be justified. He says, "if we have a million or a million and a half of people taking them regularly, then of course we're bound to be spending millions of pounds on drug treatments that aren't needed."