Former drugs minister Róisín Shortall has said there appeared to be a “reluctance” within the Department of Health to bring in long-awaited regulations to address widespread abuse of prescription drugs.
Ms Shortall is to press Leo Varadkar, the health minister, for answers on the delay in the Dáil this week.
The TD was responding to statements from the department that regulations controlling the sale and possession of benzodiazepines, which are tranquillisers, and Z-drugs, which are sedatives, would be published “later this year”.
The department said the delay in introducing the laws — prepared in early 2013 — was due to issues raised in two sets of consultations with medical practitioners and advocacy groups, including epilepsy organisations.
The statement was covered in reports in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, which revealed a massive jump in the number of people presenting to treatment centres where their main substance of abuse were benzodiazepines.
The figures, gathered by the Health Research Board, show the number rose by 175% in the last five years, from 261 people in 2009 to 719 people in 2013. The problem is spread across much of the country, with a 103% rise in Dublin, a 187% jump in Cork, a 675% hike in Waterford, and a 400% rise in Tipperary.
Separate figures show that around a third of all fatal overdoses in recent years involve benzodiazepines.
Source: Cormac O'Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 14/04/15
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