The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimates that some two million women are addicted to prescription drugs in the United States alone. In the 12-month period ending in April 1977, there were an estimated 880 Valium-connected deaths in the U.S. In most of these cases the victims had combined Valium with alcohol or another drug.

Consider Darvon. This popular painkiller can also be a person killer. In the U.S., in 1978 alone, an estimated 1,200 persons died from misuse of this drug.

While women have the highest incidence of prescription-drug abuse, men are by no means immune. A growing number of American business executives are overusing pills as well, often in combination with alcohol.

In some cases doctors have prescribed tranquilizers to help hard-drinking businessmen to get off the bottle. But, as one doctor reports, “at least 95 percent of them fell back onto alcohol within a year. But that’s not the bad thing. Fully one-third were then hooked on Valium as well.”

There are a number of legitimate medical uses for tranquilizers such as Valium, for instance in treating muscle disorders and epilepsy. But why are so many people getting hooked on tranquilizers?

In some cases the drugs are being misprescribed for ordinary stress. Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Public Citizens Research Group of Washington, D.C., puts it this way: “At the moment there are ten times more prescriptions written for minor tranquilizers than are justified.” Studies indicate that many doctors feel there is simply not enough time to deal with the root causes of anxiety during office visits, so they reach for the prescription pad instead.

Tranquilizer manufacturers have recently agreed to begin carrying a straightforward warning on their labels that the pills should not be used to combat “the stress of everyday life.” Patients will lie to doctors, borrow pills from friends, or visit several doctors to get the medication they crave. The ultimate responsibility to avoid drug abuse lies with the user.

Part 3

Do You Need Tranquilizers to Cope?

DO THEY REALLY HELP?

A British study by Oxford researchers found that people taking tranquilizers such as Valium were five times as likely to have a serious road accident as other people.

“Over-prescribing has become a tradition of the medical profession.”​—Health expert quoted in “World Health Magazine.”

TROUBLE SLEEPING?

Are pills the answer? “In most cases it is highly inappropriate to give pills. Many people who can’t sleep are suffering from depression and should be treated in other ways.”​—Dr. Harvey Moldofsky, Toronto Western Hospital.

“There is clearly a recognizable lack in medical school education and postmedical school education about the proper prescription of hypnotics [sleeping pills] and their use and treatment.”​—Dr. Charles Krauthammer, Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, U.S.

“BUT THEY SAID IT WAS NONADDICTIVE!”

“There is good evidence of physical addiction with Valium . . . A lot of people don’t know that Valium, Darvon, and codeine are addictive, and these are the [drugs] now being far too widely prescribed.”​—Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Public Citizens Health Group.

‘Valium withdrawal is more intense than heroin withdrawal.’​—Testimony by a doctor before U.S. Senate.

WHO IS PRESCRIBING YOUR PILLS?

British researchers found that 35 percent of prescriptions for tranquilizers are not written by doctors, but by their staff, usually the receptionist! Only 17 percent of the doctors surveyed insisted on writing all prescriptions themselves.