Prescription drugs are being bought on the internet to fuel addictions

Scottish government figures show a worrying rise in deaths linked to tranquilisers.

Medical professionals and support workers say record numbers are coming to them for help with prescription drug addiction.

Deaths in Scotland are directly linked to benzodiazepines such as Valium, Ativan and Xanax and opioid pain-relief drugs.

Last year there were 555 deaths in Scotland linked to benzodiazepine tranquilisers including Xanax, which saw a four-fold increase in fatalities.

Harry Shapiro, director of DrugWise, says prescription drug addiction could be a hidden problem that affects millions of people.

“There is no data for it, but if you add up all the clinical reports, anecdotal evidence – bearing in mind number of prescriptions – there are millions of prescriptions written every year, for a range of drugs,” he said. “I cannot believe the toll this takes doesn’t go into the millions.”

A quarter of services run by Addaction, the UK’s largest drug and alcohol charity, have noted an increase in interest and availability. These include Kent, Glasgow and services in the north-west.

“As a service overall it is fair to say that we have seen a general increase in awareness of Xanax over the last six months to a year,” said Rick Bradley, who works for Addaction.

Benzodiazepines have become more dangerous through users taking alcohol with them. When mixed with other substances they relax muscles and can bring the central nervous system to a halt and lead to unconsciousness and coma.