Tranquillisers and Barbiturates

What are they?

Tranquillisers and Barbiturates have two major effects. These are sedative (which decrease anxiety) and hypnotic (which help sleep). Many drugs have both effects, often having a sedative effect at low doses and a hypnotic effect at high doses.

Barbiturates

Barbiturate sleeping pills include Tuinal, Seconal and Nembutal and are most often misused for their intoxicating effect. Becuase of this, there are less barbiturates being prescribed. Non-medically available barbiturates bought on the street originate from medical sources and are usually imported or sold by users with prescriptions. Misusers will normally take the pills orally, often taken with alcohol although they are sometimes injected. To do this the capsules are opened and the powder is added to water. The small particles of undissolved substance can cause damage to veins.

Like alcohol, barbiturates depress the central nervous system and have similar effects lasting from 3 to 8 hours depending on the dose. A small dose usually makes people feel relaxed as if they'd had one or two drinks. With larger doses the effects are more unpredictable and the sedative effects takes over. A user trying to stay awake after a moderate to large dose (several pills) will often become clumsy with poor control over speech and body, rendering them liable to accidental injury. There can be extreme and unpredictable emotional reactions and mental confusion.

Large doses can lead unconsciousness and eventually respiratory failure and death. Fatal overdose is an ever present danger as the required amount for overdose is not much more than the recommended normal dose. The effects and dangers are greatly increased if Barbiturates are taken with alcoho.l

Physical dependence is likely to develop with Barbiturates if a certain threshold value is exceeded. The dependence has a strong psychological as well as physical basis, and after high doses the withdrawal effects can include irritability, nervousness, inability to sleep, faintness and nausea, twitching, delerium and sometimes convulsions with may be associated with long term brain damage. Sudden withdrawl from high doses of Barbiturates can be fatal.

Heavy users are also liable to develop bronchitis and pneumonia (due to the cough reflex being depressed) and hypothermia (becuase the drug blocks normal responses to cold) and repeated accidental overdose. Most of these risks are increased if Barbiturates are injected, which is by far the most dangerous form of drug taking.

Tranquillisers

This family of drugs are used, like barbiturates to help control anxiety and tension and to help sleep. Benzodiazepines are the most commonly prescribed of these drugs, which include Vallium, Librium and Ativan. Because they are seen to be much safer they have come to replace barbiturates for most medical purposes. These drugs are usually taken orally, although some misusers do inject, but this is usually only with Temazepam.

Benzodiazepines are the most commonly prescribed drugs in Britain. About 1 in 7 British adults take them at some time during a course of a year, and about 1 in 10 take them throughout the year. Two times as many women take them as men and many people are dependent upon them. Any of these drugs which find their way onto the black market are usually taken with alcohol to produce a greater effect.

Sedatives depress mental activity and alertness but do not generally make people as drowsy or as clumsy as Barbiturates. However, they do impair driving and similar skills involving concentration.

They can sometimes release aggression by lowering inhibitions. Any Benzodiazepines in a high enough dose can induce sleep and act as a hypnotic. The hypnotic effects can last for 3 to 6 hours but generally depend on the type of drug used.

A fatal overdose of pure Benzodiazepines is almost unheard of, but death has been reported when combined with another drug, usually alcohol. On their own sedatives produce a euphoria associated with barbiturates or alcohol, which is probably why they are not particularly popular as recreational drugs.

With benzodiazepines tolerance develops when being used for medical and non-medical use. Research has suggested that withdrawal occurs even with medical therapeutic doses, although they are not as serious as with Barbiturates. The effects of withdrawal can be unpleasant and long-lasting. They can include inability to sleep, anxiety, nausea and sometimes convulsions and mental confusion (usually after particularly high doses). Psychological dependence is common in long-term users and a life without the drug may seem very daunting. People sometimes confused, irritable and anxious and unable to carry on with their normal routine after discontinuing the drug.

Sedatives and hypnotics are Prescription Only drugs under the Medicines Act (1971), which means they can only be bought with a prescription. However, they may still be legally possessed without a prescription, although this may change in the near future due to increasing concerns about Tamazepam misuse.

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