UN warns of growing abuse of prescription drugs

Abuse of prescription drugs is an increasingly serious problem worldwide, warns the annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the United Nations' global drugs watchdog. With the number of people using prescription drugs inappropriately outnumbering heroin, cocaine and ecstasy abusers put together in some countries, this 'hidden problem...needs to be tackled urgently', says  Hamid Ghose, one of the report's  authors.

In the United States, with 6.2 million people abusing prescription drugs'more than are illicitly using cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, ecstasy and inhalants altogether'it is 'the second most important drug abuse issue after cannabis', notes the study. An estimated 1.4-1.9 million people, or around 2% of the population, are hooked on prescription drugs in Germany. In Canada, 1-3% of people abuse prescription opiods. In several European countries, including France, Italy, Poland and Lithuania, 10-18% of students use sedatives or tranquilisers without a prescription.

Illegal internet pharmacies and telephone call centres, many of which are based in India, offer drugs for sale without a prescription, and are also notorious for selling counterfeited and stolen medicines. These key sources of supply for prescription drug abusers should be closely controlled or shut down; they put 'consumers... at inordinate risk', says the report.