Pregabalin Abuse: The Alarming Rise in Illegal Sales and Misuse

2023-06-27 18:33:38

It is a drug prescribed to treat epilepsy, anxiety disorders and neuropathic pain: Pregabalin, a molecule sold under the name Lyrica and delivered only by prescription. In theory, because these capsules are now the subject of a real traffic that worries the authorities.

In Bordeaux, as in other major cities in France, the sale of Pregabalin would take precedence, according to the police, over that of narcotics.

One capsule is exchanged for 2.5 euros

On a main artery, a stone’s throw from the historic center of the city, it is very easy to find dealers. The box of 56 capsules of 300 mg is sold for 160 euros, while charged 22 euros in pharmacies. An illegal trade, punishable by 3 to 5 years in prison.

Consumed for its disinhibiting and stimulating effects, the Pregabalin However, it has many side effects, as indicated in its instructions: drowsiness, dizziness, feeling of drunkenness, high blood pressure, convulsions, etc.

Pregabalin obtained illegally in nearly half of cases

These capsules would thus attract more and more young consumers. They would be obtained illegally “in near the half of the cases“, according to’National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) which denounces misuse for the purpose of “stoned/euphoria (…) but also hypnotic”. In very high doses, this drug can be fatal.

Thus, in the face of abuse of use, the Ministry of Health has tightened the rules for prescribing the drug, assimilating it to the category of narcotics. It is now necessary to present a secure and tamper-proof prescription, for a maximum of six months.

Convenience orders

But in the city center of Bordeaux, some doctors would multiply the prescriptions of Pregabalin in the face of patients who claim it. We were able to identify one of them. However, he warns, as soon as he enters his office: “The law does not allow me to give Lyrica or Pregabalin in this practice. Please see another doctor”.

Claiming migraines that nothing relieves, yet I immediately see myself being offered the said drug. The doctor recommends 600 mg in two doses per day. Four times more, according to the classic dosage, than a daily dosage limited to 150 mg.

So here I am with a prescription for one month, without medical justification or warning about the risk of overdose.

It is not the medicine that should be withdrawn but the doctor from whom the possibility of prescribing should be withdrawn.

A pharmacist in Bordeaux

at the eye of 8 p.m.

This neighborhood pharmacist, located not far from there, knows something about it and now refuses to dispense Pregabalin. For fear of reprisals, he wishes to remain anonymous and calls on Health Insurance and the Order of Physicians to act:“THE doctors must realize that we cannot make prescriptions of convenience and feed a drug network, because these doctors participate of their own free will in a narcotics network. It is not the drug that should be withdrawn but the doctor from whom we must withdraw the possibility of prescribing.”

Contacted, the CPAM of Gironde claims to have received more than 50 reports on the diversion of Pregabalin in 2021. It recently alerted the Public Prosecutor to a risk of fraud in an “organized gang” in a district of Bordeaux.