Express.co.uk
Lucy Johnston
February 7, 2010
A RANGE of powerful tranquillisers could be put under strict controls after being linked to a series of high-profile deaths.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to investigate the harm caused by the drugs, which have been linked to the deaths of Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy and Goldsmith heiress Robyn Whitehead.
The news comes as official figures show the number of deaths associated with tranquillisers has hit 230 – a 33 per cent increase over three years.
Up to one and a half million patients are prescribed tranquillisers on a long-term basis, while many others are using them illegally as recreational drugs.
Labour MP Jim Dobbin, chairman of the all-party Parliamentary Group on Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction, said: “Thousands of people are addicted to tranquillisers and hundreds have died. We want these drugs seen as agents that people need to be warned about.” It is now being proposed that all tranquillisers should be reclassified from class C to class A substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act which would mean users or suppliers could face prison.
Read entire article: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/156700/Crackdown-on-the-killer-tranquillisers-