‘Prescribing Valium could save lives’

Prescribing Valium to heroin addicts could cut the number of drug-related deaths in Dundee, it has been claimed.

The Scottish Drugs Forum was responding to the growing number of deaths involving etizolam, a street substitute for the sedative.

Figures compiled for the Dundee Drugs Commission show etizolam has become a significant factor in the city’s attritional rate of drug-related deaths.

Etizolam was not implicated in any deaths until 2014, when it contributed to seven fatalities – nearly a fifth of the total number of deaths that year.

It was implicated in another seven deaths the following year but this rose to 20 in 2016, more than half the total.

That year, diazepam, the generic name for Valium, was implicated in 11 deaths.

Drugs such as etizolam can suppress both the heart rate and breathing. A 1mg tablet is the equivalent of a 10mg Valium pill.

Austin Smith, policy officer at the Scottish Drugs Forum, said: “The use of benzodiazepines with heroin has been common in Scotland for many years.

“From a pharmaceutical point of view, etizolam and Valium are very similar.

“However, there does seem to be an increase in the number of deaths involving benzodiazepines and etizolam in particular.”

An NHS Tayside spokeswoman said diazepam continues to be prescribed for addicts when suitable.

She said: “Diazepam continues to be prescribed as part of a structured detoxification programme to appropriate individuals.”

A spokesman for Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Problematic substance use continues to be a concern in Dundee and improving the support for people who have problem drug use is a priority.”

Valium is similar to etizolam, a “street version” of the drug, but the latter has been implicated in significantly more deaths than the former.