Increase in deaths from tranquillisers

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33533, 14 May 1974, Page 2

Increase in deaths from tranquillisers

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 13. “A depressing feature of 1973 was the very large increase in the number of deaths caused by tranquil!ising and antidepressant drugs, particularly valium and librium, and alcohol,” Mr R. Selkirk, of the Chemistry Division of the D.S.I.R. said today at a symposium on toxicology.

He was speaking to the Auckland branch of the Institute of Chemistry on the incidence of tranquillisers in postmortem studies.

“Many of these cases were accidental, as a result of the ingestion of a large amount of alcohol after a dose of tranquillising drugs,” he said. “The effects of the benzadiozepine drugs, when combined with alcohol, are unpredictable and dangerous. From our records it would appear that many of the deaths are of alcoholics who have been prescribed these drugs.” He described drugs, alcohol

and driving as a serious community problem, and quoted figures to show that a considerable proportion of drivers were under the influence of tranquillising or antidepressant drugs. “It is also apparent that a number of people to whom these drugs are prescribed take more than the prescribed dose,” he said. “Under these conditions it is probable, when considering the side effects of these drugs, that these people are not in a fit state to have control of a lethal weapon.”

The blood alcohol level was low at 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres, yet on some occasions the person involved

was not capable of walking, let alone driving. Very few cases of impairment of driving ability by drugs were detected, because of a lack of detection equipment at the site of either the accident or apprehension. In cases of impairment by alcohol. the breathalyser tube gave a good on-the-spot assessment, but equipment such as this for non-scienti-fle staff did not exist for drugs. When an amount of alcohol below the legal limit was taken with drugs, reactions were often impaired to a far greater degree than those of a person not under the influence of drugs but with a blood alcohol level indicating gross impairment.