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Criminal gangs are selling fake Valium online at a fraction of the price of genuine pills, pushing people to take potentially lethal doses of illicitly produced drugs, according to a major drug treatment service.
Taking advantage of the gap left on the market by doctors reluctant to prescribe Valium, illegal laboratories "produce" blister packs that can be fatal, warned David Bremner, medical director of Turning Point. "We have seen an increase in the number of Valium users acquired through various means and methods," said Bremner. "It has become slightly normalized. People discuss it on Mumsnet. The danger is of course that people buy unknown concentrations and maybe even unknown drugs. "
Many tablets are purchased online, where 10,000 tablets can be bought at £ 800, or 8 pills a day, said Bremner: "It's very, very cheap, because a tablet on the street is selling at £ 1. "
Valium is the brand name for diazepam, a benzodiazepine drug that acts as a sedative and is prescribed to treat anxiety, alcohol withdrawal, muscle spasms, and certain seizures. Some of the fake tablets contain alternatives to diazepam, such as Etizolam, which, while producing similar effects, can be fatal if mixed with heroin or methadone.
The fake Valium tablets were linked to a 43% increase in the number of people who died as a result of a drug overdose in Glasgow between January and October of last year. Several other Scottish cities experienced similar problems as drugs were becoming "cheaper than chips".
But Bremner said the problem was moving south. Turning Point works in more than 300 locations in England. "Clandestine labs producing benzodiazepines are failing to ensure sufficient consistency," he said, making comparisons with the markets for fentanyl and carfentanil where strengths from different batches from the same labs can vary considerably.
"I saw patients who had bought drugs over the Internet for a host of reasons, and they inadvertently took a lethal dose. The number of their tablets was not high, but the concentration in what they took could sometimes be incredibly high. Many people who buy fake valium consume it alone. They are therefore extremely vulnerable in the event of an adverse reaction. The drug is often used by those seeking care for their alcohol addiction or mental health problems. As support services have been reduced, the number of people soliciting Valium online has increased dramatically, suggested Bremner.
It is also popular with consumers of cocaine and GHB – sometimes known as liquid ecstasy – who take the tablets to help them relax.
"These badtails tend toward the fatal end of drug taking," said Bremner. "We see many more people dying because their drug intoxication is a combination of several substances, and very often benzodiazepines are part of it."
In 2017, 3,756 deaths were recorded in England and Wales due to drug intoxication – the highest number since records began. But it is difficult to badess how far false Valium or other forms of benzodiazepines contributed to the death. Indeed, deaths due to drug poisoning are attributed to a single substance, said Bremner, which means that the presence of other drugs in the body is ignored when death is recorded.
"Many patients died from intoxication, but since you prescribed methadone, this death is attributed to methadone toxicity when cocaine, benzodiazepine and 'alcohol."
8p
Cost of an illicit Valium tablet online – compared to a street day value of £ 1 each
43%
The increase in the number of people dying from an overdose in Glasgow between January and October 2018
3,756
The number of deaths due to drug poisoning in England and Wales in 2017 – the highest ever recorded
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