It is a drug prescribed to treat epilepsy, generalized anxiety disorder and neuropathic pain. For some time now, it has been sold on a booming black market.
It is nicknamed “the poor man’s drug”. Known as Lyrica or pregabalin, this drug is hijacked and used as a drug by some people. Others who were prescribed it became addicted. France 3 Provence-Alpes takes stock of this “poor man’s drug” which particularly affects the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.
- Pregabalin, what is it?
Pregabalin is a drug, known as Lyrica, which is also sold in generic form. It is prescribed to treat epilepsy, generalized anxiety disorders and neuropathic pain, especially of the lower limbs. In France, its marketing authorization dates from September 2004. It is delivered on medical prescription.
- Why does this drug worry the health authorities?
“For 3 or 4 years, we have seen the situation take on an unprecedented scale”, explains Joëlle Micallef, a pharmacologist, head of the French addictovigilance network and head of service at the Timone hospital in Marseille. “People to whom this drug has been prescribed have use disorders, that is to say, an addiction. What concerns us is that this affects a very varied typology. One might think that this only concerns drug addicts but that is absolutely not the case.”
“You can develop an addiction with a classic prescription, respecting the doses proposed by a doctor, even if it is not systematic”
Joelle MicallefDirector of CEIP-Addictovigilance PACA Corse
People who are dependent on pregabaldin also include drug users. Because the drug is easily sold on the black market. In a report filmed by France 2 at the exit of the Gèze metro in Marseille, journalists with hidden cameras show that you can buy a stamp for only 2 euros.
“The problem is the extreme difficulty that exists in stopping the product, even in the context of treatment. There is no proven withdrawal method“, details Joëlle Micallef.
Persons dependent on the drug may exhibit aggression or psychiatric or suicidal disorders.
“If we talk a lot about addiction to Pregabalin, it is in particular because the aggressiveness it generates has societal repercussions, within families, in buildings, with caregivers”, specifies the addictovigilance specialist. Associated with taking opioids, Pregabalin increases by three the risk of dying from overdose.
- What are the effects of Pregabalin?
“Users seek it for its euphoric, sedative, “high” effects, which can either occur immediately or because they increase the doses”, analyzes Joëlle Micallef. “For patients, the effects are somewhat similar to benzodiazepines, such as Roypnol, Temesta, or Xanax.”
In the France 2 report, a user in withdrawal testifies: “I was taking two or three pills a day. When you take one it’s always speed. It’s dangerous.”
- Why has sales developed so much in France?
“When it was put on the market, this drug was presented as risk-free, which is false when you look at the results of clinical studies. We highlighted its effectiveness, which was very modest. The first effect undesirable presented, these are motor disorders and the second, euphoria. We pharmacologists, this alerted us, recalls Joëlle Micallef. The drug was used on a very large scale. Health professionals have not been sufficiently informed about pregabalin, presented as a panacea. When some requests for prescriptions from patients started to get very aggressive, that’s when they got the hang of it. The association of addictovigilance centers alerted on the subject in 2019. But the more you let a situation settle, the more it becomes difficult to curb once it has gained momentum”
“Medical prescriptions are still at a very high level, continues the pharmacologist. Not all patients will develop use disorders. But the more people you have exposed, the more the risk of dependence will concern a large number of patients. We cannot know the precise percentage.”
Not all patients will develop use disorders. But the more people you have exposed, the more the risk of dependence will concern a large number of patients.
Joelle MicallefDirector of CEIP-Addictovigilance PACA Corse
In 2022, 500 cases of misuse of the drug were listed in France. Health authorities estimate that they know only 1% of cases. “What interests us is more to see the dynamics. For example, pregabalin appears in the top 3 of falsified prescriptions that pharmacists report to us.”
In 2021, to stop the diversion of use, the National Agency for Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) conditioned pregabalin to a secure prescription. “There are patients for whom the drug is useful, others who have problems with use and for whom stopping cannot be done suddenly. The problem is not the drug itself. but misuse. It must be identified and monitored because it has deleterious effects.”