THE Government last night announced a public consultation on plans to
ban the prescription drug Temazepam, two months after the head of the
Scottish Police Federation called for action to stem the west of
Scotland's drugs wars.
The announcement came as the BBC current affairs programme Panorama
screened a hard-hitting documentary on the violence surrounding
Temazepam abuse in Paisley.
In April, Scottish Office Minister Lord Fraser told the Police
Federation conference in Peebles that abuse of Temazepam was the key
drugs issue in Scotland.
He said a rescheduling of the drug would make it harder for misusers
to obtain, adding: ''We are carefully examining the rescheduling of the
drug and hope to reach a decision soon.''
His promise followed a call for the ''killer'' drug to be outlawed by
federation chairman Mr Jim Fraser.
Mr Leslie Sharp, Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, has estimated
that there are about 10,000 drug abusers in Glasgow, of whom two-thirds
are thought to be addicted to Temazepam.
Last night's Government announcement came amid concern that the drug
makes abusers aggressive and led to 50 deaths last year in Glasgow
alone, and has been responsible for escalating violence and a series of
murders in Paisley.
Mr John Bowis, parliamentary secretary at the Department of Health,
launched a public consultation exercise on the proposed ban on
prescription of the soft gel-filled capsules by general practitioners.
He said: ''The scale of the misuse of Temazepam requires action. The
misuse . . . by injecting drug users has given rise to extremely serious
health problems for them.
''If a decision to ban were taken, it would be part of a package of
measures designed to reduce misuse which would include increasing safe
custody controls on all formulations of Temazepam in manufacturers'
premises and warehouses.
''The tablet and elixir formulations of Temazepam would remain
available on NHS prescription in order to meet all clinical need. There
would be no question of this proposal disadvantaging patients in any
way, and patients would continue to receive the medicines they need.''
The announcement came as BBC1's Panorama programme reported that the
drug has led to murders, machete attacks, shootings and a firebombing in
Paisley.
Street demand for Temazepam is so strong that criminal gangs fight
pitched battles for control of the lucrative black market in the drug.
Mr Ken Mitchell, a surgeon at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley
told the programme he treated children as young as 13 who had been
involved in taking Temazapam, for whom taking the drug had become
socially acceptable.
''There's obviously a vendetta going on, there's some sort of warfare
going on,'' he added.
He said he had seen ''stab wounds through the neck, going in one side,
out the other side, right through the vocal cord area''.
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