The new addiction to over-the-counter drugs

Addiction to non-prescription drugs is at its highest level ever, according to the leading treatment centres, which have called for the a range of measures to tackle the problem.

Centre officials said a growing number of people were abusing over-the-counter drugs containing opiates and stimulants. They called for stricter labelling of potentially addictive medicines in addition to a national public awareness campaign and an information drive to ensure general practitioners are fully informed of the problem.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said there were no plans to introduce stricter labelling for potentially addictive over-the-counter drugs.

Experts say that in most cases the drugs are abused in order to cope with the symptoms of a primary addiction. Pain-killers and cough mixtures containing codeine or alcohol are frequently abused.

According to Kerry's Talbot Grove Treatment Centre, opiate-based pain-killers like Solpadeine are widely used by alcoholics and drug-abusers to ease the discomfort of withdrawal.

"Potentially fatal addictions are developed by taking far in excess of the recommended dose. When people present for treatment they are often quite shocked to discover that they have become addicted to an opiate-based drug," said the centre's director, Conn Cremin.

Rolande Anderson, assistant director at the Rutland Centre in Dublin, described the current situation as "quite worrying", and added: "People in pain are often told to take medicines but are not informed that these can be addictive."

Officials at the main treatment clinics maintain that potentially addictive medicines should carry warnings.

According to the Health Research Board, an appraisal of over-the-counter drug abuse has not been conducted here, but a recent British report concluded that potentially addictive medicines should carry warnings.

The British Medical Association recommended that medicines with addictive qualities be labelled as such, with information displayed on the pack when they contain opiates, sedatives and hallucinogens. It also recommended that more information on over-the-counter drugs be available to GPs.

Dr Eamon Keenan, consultant psychiatrist at Dublin's Trinity Court Clinic, has had patients with an addiction to codeine-based cough mixtures of up to eight bottles a day. He believes pharmacists can contribute to combating such abuse. In addition to stricter labelling, treatment centres would like to see the adoption of procedures observed in the US, where customers can read up on the clinical studies conducted on a particular drug at the pharmacy counter and packaging contains a detailed list of all possible side-effects.