Coroners have renewed their call for common prescription drugs to be classified as controlled substances after a study showed they were detected in one in 16 post-mortem toxicology tests.
According to researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI), the study raises concerns about the widespread availability of pregabalin, including increased illicit supply, and the potential for serious harm from polypharmacy. .
Pregabalin, sold as Lyrica, is approved in Ireland to treat epilepsy, nerve pain and general anxiety disorders. To be reclassified as a controlled substance, prescriptions must be reviewed monthly.
Doctors working with drug users said pregabalin was being obtained by people from multiple sources and sold on the streets of Dublin for €1 per 100mg tablet, known as ‘coffin tablets’. 3 euros per 300mg tablet.
In 2021, pregabalin was the 20th most prescribed drug in the state’s drug system, with more than 615,000 prescriptions written at a cost of 5.83 million euros, according to statistics from health authorities.
According to the study, heroin or methadone was detected in 6.4% of all post-mortem poisoning cases from 2013 to 2020, and in 27.8% of cases where heroin or methadone was also detected.
[ âCoffin tabletâ misuse: Why the painkiller pregabalin must be made a controlled drug in Ireland ]
Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, president of the Coroners’ Association of Ireland, said pregabalin could become the “new OxyContin” if its abuse increases. OxyContin is an unrelated prescription opioid drug that has been implicated in tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States.
Dr Fitzgerald said coroners had written to the Department of Health last year to make pregabalin a controlled substance, but the matter had been referred to the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA).
HPRA said that while it is responsible for the approval of medicines and the processing of the department’s controlled substance licenses, the agency is also responsible for the management of substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.
The ministry did not respond to inquiries regarding this matter.
The number of prescriptions for pregabalin nearly doubled between 2010 and 2020, and the number of pregabalin-related seizures increased from 14 in 2016 to 59 in 2020, according to the study.
[ âDopeyâ, âout of itâ: patients share their painkiller side-effects ]
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