UK parliamentary c'tee surveys Rx drug abuse

The UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Misuse has announced plans to investigate the extent of both prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse. Brian Iddon, the committee's chairman, told the UK's public service broadcaster, the BBC, that the aim of the study would be to identify the true scale and nature of the problem.

Dr Iddon said: "we know that thousands of people's lives have been affected by the misuse of drugs found in the home medicine cabinet or at the chemists." He added that the group was "also increasingly concerned about the number of users buying medicines on-line, where they face the very real risk of buying counterfeit products that may be dangerous."

As part of the investigation, the parliamentary group will invite the pharmaceutical industry, health care professionals and affected members of the public to give evidence. Reports from the US National Center on Alcohol and Substance Abuse indicate that, from 1993 to 2005, the use of tranquilizers such as Xanax (alprazolam) and Valium (diazepam) rose 450% among the student population, equivalent to an extra 225,000 people (Marketletter July 16).