Is the use of hypnotics, sedatives and minor tranquilizers really a major health problem?

An analysis has been made of individual purchases of hypnotics, sedatives and minor tranquilizers made during 1973 by patients who had bought such drugs either only once (group S, n= 417) or regularly (group R, n=76) during a 16-month period five years earlier from pharmacies in the town of Ostersund, county of Jmtland, Sweden. By 1973, 17% of the patients in each group had either died or moved out of the country and were therefore excluded from the comparison. In group S, 81 patients (23%) bought the above drugs once or more in 1973, while the corresponding figure for group R was 55 (87%). Compared with 1968-69, there was a decrease in the number of prescriptions and also in the number of tablets obtained per individual. Furthermore, the number of tablets per prescription was lower in 1973. Among the drugs prescribed, benzodiazepines dominated during both periods, followed by barbiturates. In 1973 there was a substantial increase in the use of nitrazepam, mostly at the expense of diazepam and combined products. One patient in group S and one in group R showed a tendency to decrease the interval between purchases. The latter was already known to be a drug abuser five years earlier. Without knowing the reason why the drugs were prescribed and to what extent they were actually taken, it is impossible to say whether the other patient should be classified as drug abuser or not. Although the number of patients in this study is limited, it might be concluded that the risk of an occasional user of hypnotics, sedatives and minor tranquilizers living in this area becoming an abuser of such drugs within a five-year period is less than 1/345.