Melanie Davis says younger people can sometimes develop a dependency after buying drugs through illegal online pharmacies

LEVELS of sleeping pill dependency remain high despite doctors exercising greater caution and prescribing fewer “benzos” to patients, an award-winning drug expert said this week.

Melanie Davis has helped thousands of people in Islington and Camden get off benzo­diazepines drugs while working for Recovery Experience Sleeping and Tranquillisers (REST) over 30 years.

The group also helps people struggling with so-called “Z-drugs” that were created to help people get a good night’s rest but can lead to dangerous dependency problems.

“People do use them illicitly,” Ms Davis said, adding younger people sometimes develop a dependency after buying the drugs through illegal online pharmacies.

“The problem is when people take them longer than a few weeks, as they become involuntarily dependent on them,” said Ms Davis.

“People who use all kinds of drugs say they are the hardest to come off. Withdrawals can be very protracted, and there are difficult physiological and psychological aspects to it. People talk about a gut-wrenching dread. People ask: am I going mad? Am I dying? We would say that’s very normal.”

She added: “If you look up the statistics, [use] is still high, and people are already dependent on them.”

“Benzos” have been traditionally associated with use by women, but Ms Davis said she now works with men too.

“It was very much a woman’s drug initially,” said Ms Davis. An adviser to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence, she recently won an “outstanding achievement award” for her work by Islington Council.

“Do you remember those adverts from the 1960s? ‘Do you want a sparkling home?’ With drugs, there are fashions and styles.

“There was something about women finding it difficult to say they were drinkers, and men who found it hard to admit they ‘suffered with their nerves’. More recently these categories have broken down.”

The drugs, which include Valium, Xanax and Zopiclone, are trad­itionally prescribed to help with anxiety and insomnia.

They produce a calming effect by altering the way brain chemicals transmit messages to brain cells, slowing down the central nervous system.

But the body quickly builds up a tolerance to these compounds, mean­ing a larger dose is needed to achieve the same calming effect – making them highly addictive.

Doctors no longer prescribe sleeping pills and tranquillisers so freely to patients. In extreme cases, those who go “cold turkey” can experience fatal with­drawal seizures, meaning it is important to come off the drug in a managed way.

“Benzodiazepine dependence is a very difficult problem to resolve… a lot of our work is offering accurate information for people to do a smooth taper, and warning them not to come off suddenly,” Ms Davis said. “If anyone is having problems with benzos, please contact me at REST.”

• You can contact Ms Davis by emailing Melanie.Davis@cgl.org.uk