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DOn’T wORRY –
ThERE’S a pill
fOR ThaT.
By2008-9,Xanax
hadbecome
America’s
most-prescribed
psychiatricdrugat
44mscripts.
By2014thatfigure
hadpassed48m.
www.good.is
www.imshealth.com
200 x 2mg tablets (the equivalent of 4 x 10mg
diazepam) worked out at around £1 a tablet. There is
clearly no shortage of people offering alprazolam, with
the product range including raw powder and pills in
various strengths.
Increased restriction on other sedating substances
could further encourage its use. The existing non-
regulated benzodiazepines were all automatically
covered by the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016
(PSA), reducing legitimate access to these compounds
via head shops and online suppliers.
The ACMD has pushed for further regulation,
suggesting they be made temporary class drug order
(TCDO) drugs, with a view to later making them fully
controlled drugs. However, the government has
declined, arguing that this would reduce the capacity to
control these drugs in custodial settings. Nonetheless, it
is likely that all the novel benzodiaze pines will be
scheduled at some point in the future.
The ACMD and government are also concerned
about the diversion of prescribed medicines, and the
misuse of pregabalin is a key issue. Therefore it seems
increasingly likely that this, alongside gabapentin, will
be made a controlled drug in the coming months. So
for anyone seeking non-prescribed sedation, the dark
web and illicit markets will be the main source of
drugs, and alprazolam is increasingly a feature. This
will be especially true for people who have built up
significant tolerance to benzo-type drugs pre-PSA, and
who will need to cross-substitute with similarly strong
benzos to stave off withdrawal. Someone with a 2g a
day flubromazolam habit would probably need 80mg
of diazepam for a similar effect.
A discussion on an NPS forum made a similar point,
highlighting a red 5mg alprazolam bar on the market,
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘There are now vendors
based in the UK
producing their own
Xanax bars for our
market… there’s one in
particular that has just
this week come out with
red bars containing 5mg
alprazolam...’
saying: ‘There are now vendors based in the UK
producing their own Xanax bars for our market…
there’s one in particular that has just this week come
out with red bars containing 5mg alprazolam. These
are pressed and sold in the UK. I do not think it is a
coincidence that this is happening right after the
Psychoactive Substances Act has come into force. No
one with a clonazolam habit is going to get much out
of diazepam after all…
‘This could be the start of an interesting new trend
in the UK. Alprazolam has never previously been a big
thing here, but some of these UK Xanax vendors are
geared up specifically to sell in bulk to dealers. I don’t
doubt this is a direct result of UK benzo users getting
a taste of more potent benzos from the RC [research
chemicals] scene. I also fully expect etizolam bars to
come onto the UK market shortly, but I suspect these
will be more popular given the street cred of Xanax.’
It is too soon to know if alprazolam will become a
significant drug on the UK scene, but some of the key
risks and issues are:
• Alprazolam may crop up unexpectedly in
compounds where it was not the sought-after
drug. It may also crop up in a variety of strengths,
with pills containing alprazolam ranging from
0.5mg to 5mg (equivalent of 20mg – 100mg of
diazepam.) On its own this is a significant risk of
overdose. This risk goes up significantly when
used in combination with alcohol or opiates.
• If alprazolam is appealing to a younger
demographic, there is likely to be a high level of
ignorance in relation to risks around
benzodiazepine use.
• As with other benzodiazepines, alprazolam can
cause significant physical dependency and
dangerous withdrawal symptoms. Tapered
reduction may be required, including high-dose
prescribing as part of a transfer from illegally
sourced drugs.
Alprazolam is certainly a significant drug – and a big
problem – in America, and increasingly crops up in
polydrug overdoses. From looking at its growing
influence in this country, it would seem that the risks
are very real.
Kevin Flemen runs the drugs education and training
initiative, KFx. Visit www.kfx.org.uk for free resources.
April 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 7