Consumer advocates have been calling for years to better educate patients about the use of addictive medicines. Special platforms have been offering prescription drugs without a prescription in Germany for some time now. You even get medicines like Valium in online pharmacies of this kind. In addition, there are also all common lifestyle medications and pills for weight loss. Physicians and pharmacists are now required to provide the patient with the necessary basic knowledge if necessary.
About two million Germans take psychotropic drugs every day, often benzodiazepines. Consumers are mostly women and the elderly. Within this group Diazepam occupies a top position. The best-selling brand was Valium for years. Although the brand itself has not been part of the ABDA article since 2015, there are many other products containing the active ingredient diazepam, which are still referred to as valium by doctors and patients in colloquial language. As it is called, the fact is that such funds make them dependent.
Doctors and other experts are watching the situation with concern. According to an estimate by the Federal Association of German Pharmacist Associations (ABDA), every third diazepam dose is only swallowed to satisfy an addiction. New channels on the Internet make it easier than ever to get the blue pills.
In the past, addicts often switched doctors to get new prescriptions. Diazepam is not considered a narcotic, so it is enough a simple cash or private recipe. The trend towards a change of doctor has weakened in recent years. However, the number of addicts has not diminished, quite the contrary.
The affected patients have only found other sources of supply. The internet offers many possibilities. If you enter the term “buy valium” in the world’s largest search engine (Google), you will get more than 1 million results. Mostly there are offers from unregulated online pharmacies. There are common packs (such as diazepam 10 mg or diazepam 5 mg ) available at prices that are only slightly above those that would have to pay with a private prescription in a pharmacy.
The online providers do not ask questions, are not interested in recipes and usually deliver free. The fact that the providers have their headquarters all over the world, you obviously do not feel bound by German law.
The experience of the past shows that stricter laws do not remedy this situation. The whole burden of responsibility lies once again with the doctors, who are required to better inform their patients about effects and side effects. Well-informed people tend to be more cautious in their consumption patterns – as evidenced by numerous studies.
Among the most important facts count the contraindications: for example, who suffers from a disease of the liver or muscle weakness, should not resort to Valium. However, the mechanisms and dangers of dependency, use in pregnancy, drug interactions, adverse reactions, as well as overdose symptoms and measures should also be conveyed to the patient in a manner appropriate to his or her comprehension.
It is hard to prevent more and more consumers from buying medicines like Valium in online pharmacies. Therefore, a comprehensive education is the only way to a reasonably safe handling of it. A possible approach to relieve the medical profession would be the inclusion of pharmacology in school education.
