A WORKING GROUP of health experts led by the Medical Council has told the government it should consider reclassifying a widely precribed – and misused – anti-anxiety and pain relief medicine as a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Pregabalin was implicated in 83 drug deaths in 2021, the most recent year for which figures are available. This represented almost one in four drug deaths, almost all of which also involved other substances.
It is the 22nd most commonly prescribed drug on state drug payment schemes, with over 54,000 prescriptions in July alone, according to the most recent HSE data. It’s also used for epilepsy.
Some of this legally prescribed pregabalin is traded or resold on the street.
Prescriptions of controlled drugs usually need to be more frequently reviewed by doctors, and classification as such under the Misuse of Drugs Act is likely to act as a red …