The hidden extent of prescription painkiller abuse in Britain has been revealed by official figures that show that almost two million people are misusing such drugs.
Users are regularly taking painkillers prescribed for other people as a way of getting a “high” or relaxing.
One doctor described the abuse of prescription painkillers in England and Wales as the “new substances on the block”, and academics expressed alarm at the estimated number of people abusing the drugs.
About 5.4 per cent of adults aged between 15 and 59 interviewed for the Crime Survey of England and Wales said that they had misused a prescription painkiller prescribed for someone else in the previous year. This would equate to 1.8 million people nationally. Among people aged 16 to 24, in 2014-15 7.2 per cent had taken a painkiller that had not been prescribed for them, the survey found.
It is the first time that the study has asked about prescription-only painkillers, and was included at the request of the Home Office. Unlike other surveys of its kind, the drugs questionnaire was not conducted face to face; instead, respondents were asked to answer the questions on a computer because of the sensitivity of illegal drug use. Respondents were asked about prescription painkillers they had misused “only for the feeling or experience it gave them”.
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Theresa May, the home secretary, has also asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to investigate the extent of abuse. Its report is expected by the end of the year.
Mark Porter, a GP and The Times medical correspondent, said: “Repeat prescribing systems are much of the problem. They are designed to make it easy for people with longterm painful conditions — everything from sciatica to cancer — to get medicines when they need them without seeing a doctor every time. But because painkillers are often taken on an “as required” basis, it can be hard to keep track of who is taking what and when. So the system is open to abuse.”
Among the painkillers being misused are codeine, tramadol, buprenorphine, pregabalin and gabapentin.
One in 20 Americans aged 12 and over reported using prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons in 2010, and experts expressed concern that the figure in England and Wales is similar.
Roger Knaggs, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice at the University of Nottingham, said that he was surprised by the UK figures. “The US has been described as being in the midst of a prescription opioid epidemic, but it is not considered to be such an issue here,” he said. “On the basis of one year’s figures it is hard to comment on the trend; however, it is something we need to watch closely.” He added that the number of UK prescriptions for opioIds had doubled in ten years.
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Alistair Bohm, of the charity Addaction, said: “There’s evidence that painkiller misuse is a serious issue. They can be bought on the streets, through online pharmacies or diverted from prescriptions and are often used to supplement other drugs, like heroin. Taking large quantities of painkillers, and mixing them with alcohol or other drugs can lead to severe intoxication and, in serious cases, death by overdose.”
This year a report by DrugScope found that two prescription painkillers, pregabalin and gabapentin, were available on the black market for between 50p and £2.
The number of deaths linked to the two drugs rose from 12 in 2012 to 42 in 2013, while the number of death certificates in which the painkiller tramadol was mentioned rose from 43 in 2004 to 175 in 2012.