Benzos,
tranx. Mogadon are sometimes called moggies. Temazepam are sometimes called
green eggs, jellies, jelly babies, rugby balls, tems or yellow eggs.
For
information on Tranquilisers in other languages, click below:
Benzodiazepines, minor tranquillisers and drugs such as an diazepam
(Valium), lorazepam (Ativan) , chlordiazepoxide (Librium), nitrazepam (Mogadon),
flunitrazepam (Rohypnol)) and temazepam
Minor tranquillisers are synthetic drugs
which are manufactured as an medicines mainly to treat anxiety and epilepsy
and as sleeping tablets (major tranquillisers are used for the treatment
of long term mental health problems).
For medical uses tranquillisers
are usually swallowed as pills or capsules. They are also used in the
same way as street drugs but some forms can also be prepared for injection.
THE LAW
All minor tranquillisers
are Prescription Only medicines under the Medicines
Act. This means they can only be legally supplied by a pharmacist
in accordance with a doctors prescription. They are also controlled as
a class C drug under the Misuse
of Drugs Act. This also makes it illegal to supply them to someone
else, the maximum penalty being fourteen years imprisonment and a fine.
Until recently, possession was not an arrestable offence if you did not
have a prescription, except for Rohypnol and temazepam. Now police can
arrest an individual in possession of any minor tranquilliser who cannot
show a legitimate prescription for them.
Under the Misuse of Drugs
Act possession brings with it a maximum sentence of two years and an unlimited
fine or both. Selling them on can bring fourteen years and/or fine for
trafficking
LATEST UK NEWS
Surveys suggest that 1 to 1.5 million people
are prescribed tranqullisers every year in the UK. It's thought that one
in seven British adults take them at some time each year and that 1 in
40 take them throughout the year. Many people are on long term repeat
prescriptions with up to half the prescriptions being given without the
patient seeing their doctor. Prescriptions after falling from 30 million
a year in 1979 to 14 million in 1994, seem to levelling at 16 million
a year. In 1999, temazepam was still the most widely prescribed psychotropic
at under 5 million annual prescriptions, followed by 4 million diazepam
prescritoins. Twice as many women as men are prescribed them and estimates
for the number of people who are dependent on them have varied from 200,000
to 1.75 million people.
There is no known illegal
manufacture of tranquillisers but in recent years prescribed or stolen
tablets have found their way on to the street market selling for as an
little as 25p a tablet. Typically, temazepam and diazepam sell for £1
per 10mg tablet or 10p per 1mg.They are now used as a street drugs in
a number of ways. This includes taking them in combination with other
drugs to increase the depressant effect of alcohol
and heroin
or to offset the effects of stimulant
drugs such as an ecstasy
and amphetamine.
Temazepam is also used by people who inject drugs either as
a cheap drug of first choice or when drugs such as an heroin are unavailable. The
manufacturers of temazepam changed it from a liquid filled capsule to a gel to try and
prevent it being injected, but the practice continued and led to recent changes in the
law.
HISTORY
Tranquillisers were first manufactured in the 1960s and
seen as safe, non addictive drugs which could be used by doctors to treat anxiety and
sleeping pills. They were at first regarded as a hazard free alternative to the
prescribing of barbiturates.
Although many people, particularly women, suffered serious
side effects and dependence prescribing of tranquillisers continued to grow for over 20
years. It was not until the late 1970s that these problems were openly acknowledged.
Prescriptions for tranquillisers fell from just over 30 million in 1979 to less than half
that amount in the late 1990s. Despite this fall tranquillisers are still the most
commonly prescribed mood altering drugs in the UK
EFFECTS/
RISKS
Tranquillisers are sedative drugs which slow down people's
reactions and can make them feel drowsy, lethargic and forgetful. They relieve anxiety and
tension and can make people feel more calm and relaxed. Effects begin after 10-15 minutes
and can last up to 6 hours without repeating the dose.
"It's like a dream state. It gets you away
from it all. It cushions you so you don't worry or care anymore. You don't really know
what is going on".
The effect of slowing reactions
and making people drowsy can make accidents more likely. It can be dangerous
to drive while on tranquillisers. With regular use tolerance
can develop quickly so increasing amounts are needed to get the same effect.
Dependence
can also quickly develop with regular use so that withdrawal
can lead to intense anxiety, nausea, insomnia, irritability and headaches.
Sudden withdrawal from very high doses can be very dangerous and result
in confusion and serious convulsions. Many people find it very difficult
to give up and may need a gradually reduced dosage to do so.
"Temazepam took over my life. It creeps up on
you and is very addictive. I started using to bring me down from acid trips to make me
feel normal. I liked them and started to use more and more. And that's when the problems
really started because I couldn't leave them alone".
Regular users often find that after a time tranquillisers
become ineffective in giving the desired effect. Continual use may mean they become
ineffective as sleeping pills after 2 weeks and ineffective to combat anxiety after 4
months. The temptation is then to increase the dosage. Tranquillisers are only really
effective as short term medicines but many people are dependent and have been taking them
for several years.
A lot of tranquillisers have to be taken to fatally
overdose but there have been many cases where people have died when also drinking alcohol.
Injecting temazepam can be
particularly dangerous and has resulted in a number of fatal overdoses,
when its use is combined with other depressant drugs.
Updated February 2004
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