The number of people prescribed a benzodiazepine, also called ‘benzo’, rose by 1.5 percent last year to 1.37 million people. In reality, the number of users exceeds 1.37 million. The product can be easily ordered online.
Increase in the number of addicts
“Previously, as a user, you had to know where the dealers were, but now it is relatively easy to order your medicines online via the internet,” says Peter Vossenberg of the Dutch Association for Addiction Medicine (VVGN). He also sees an increase in the number of people who have become addicted to sleeping pills and tranquilizers.
“It mainly concerns benzodiazepines. These are drugs that can help you sleep or suppress feelings of anxiety. These drugs are usually prescribed by a doctor, but a large market has arisen on the internet.”
And that can turn out to be life-threatening, says experience expert Geert:
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Society is more malleable
Loes Hanck, addiction specialist at Jellinek, is no longer surprised that such a market has emerged on the internet. “It was a bit newer a year or two ago, but now this addiction is really part of it. Now it’s normal that we treat these kinds of patients.”
Katinka Damen, medication expert at Novadic-Kentron, has also seen a significant trend in recent years. “Society is becoming more malleable and the message is more and more often: you don’t have to be in pain anymore, so take this drug. The benzodiazepines are only very addictive and you only have to use them for a shorter time. drugs increased if the GP no longer prescribes them.”
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Influence of pandemic
Arnt Schellekens, professor of addiction and medicine at Radboudumc and researcher at NISPA, has also noticed that the use of benzodiazepines is gradually increasing. “I can’t substantiate it, but my suspicion is that this has to do with the corona pandemic. Because of the lockdowns, boredom and fear, delayed care and a growing market on the internet for medicines.”
According to Schellekens, benzodiazepines have a double effect. “For example, it ensures that you can go to sleep or that you become calm. And on the other hand, it can make something that feels negative less negative. For example, dampening fear.”
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Online medicine world
A look on the internet indeed shows a large amount of webshops. Also striking is the ease with which these types of resources can be ordered.
The web shops look like party shops, but sell resources that should be used for research purposes. And this is also stated with each product: “Benzodiazepines are a Research Chemical and are not suitable for human consumption.”
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Peter Vossenberg of the VVGN says that the drugs that are offered online are not benzodiazepines that you can get a prescription from pharmacies. They are adaptations of benzodiazepines. “They are not registered drugs and they have not been studied. You do not know what the risks are of overdose or what the long-term effects are. There are many substances that can be found online. Substances that are not prohibited and that you can simply use to buy.”
Not illegal
The resources offered on these web shops are therefore not illegal to sell online. Marcel Bouvy, professor of Pharmaceutical Patient Care at Utrecht University, sees that it is often only a small difference. “There are specific substances on the opium list that are banned. These substances have a certain chemical formula. When you make a small change in that formula, the substance changes and you develop a new drug.”
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According to Bouvy, it is only illegal if a substance is officially classified as a drug or as an opium law drug. The substances that are offered online as a research tool are therefore very similar to other substances, but have not yet been assessed as illegal. “As a legislator you are therefore always behind the times, because it is never exactly the same drug that is on the opium list.”
Response inspection
The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) says in a response that they can act against web shops with illegal supply of medicines. According to European regulations, these substances alone do not fall under the Medicines Act. And while they look like substances on the Opium Act lists, they are not on it in that specific form. There is therefore no legal ground for the IGJ to tackle this. The IGJ does say that all substances are monitored.
“As a solution, instead of listing a specific drug, list a group-level drug in its entirety,” Bouvy says. “Another option is to monitor even better what is offered and then link very quick procedures with which you can more quickly identify drugs as drugs. The latter seems to me the most feasible.”
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