More than 130,000 children, including 39,000 infants and toddlers, are being prescribed anti-anxiety drugs that are so addictive, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns they should not be prescribed for longer than a few weeks.
Mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) International obtained the statistics from IMS health, a drug market research firm which also revealed that of this figure, over 98,000 two- to five-year-olds were prescribed the sedative-hypnotic drugs. There has been a nearly 300 percent increase in the drugs prescribed babies and toddlers under the age of two since 2003.1
The class of drugs is called benzodiazepines, also known as “benzos,” “sedatives,” and “tranquilizers,” and has limited approval for the pediatric population for pre-anesthesia. Diazepam has been approved for pediatric use in children with epilepsy. The FDA has also indicated they can be used to treat insomnia and seizures.2 The drugs are also combined with opioids for operations or for prolonged sedation in intensive care.
According to Psychiatric Drugs in Children and Adolescents Basic Pharmacology and Practical Applications, benzos have “not shown efficacy in anxiety disorders in double-blind placebo-controlled trials in children and adolescents.”3 The Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide for benzodiazepines also says that safety of many of them has not been established in children.4 However, at least one benzo, lorazepam, is FDA-approved for treatment of anxiety in those aged 12 .and older.5
None of this explains how nearly 40,000 infants and toddlers can be prescribed such potentially addictive drugs, CCHR says. Indeed, a Psychology Today article in 2009 stated, “It is considered unwise to subject children to the potential for getting caught in the addictive grip of these drugs.”
Dr. David Sack, board certified in addiction medicine, says, “Tolerance and dependence can develop quickly. There have been reports of people who received high doses of benzodiazepines becoming physically dependent in as little as two days.”6
All benzodiazepines are listed as Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) schedule IV controlled substances because of the potential for abuse, addiction and diversion.7
As a nonprofit, CCHR carries out its mission to curb psychotropic drug use in children and educate parents and families of the risks of psychotropic drugs in its Fight For Kinds campaign.
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References:
1 IMS, Vector One: National (VONA) and Total Patient Tracker (TPT) Database, Years 2008-2013, Extracted 2014.
2 https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm518473.htm
3 https://books.google.com/books
4 https://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/Johns_Hopkins_Psychiatry_Guide/787140/all/Benzodiazepines
5 Raymond H. White, C. Susan Moseley-Howard (Editors), Mental Health Practice in Today’s Schools: Issues and Interventions, (Springer Publishing Co. NY, 2015)
6 David Sack M.D., “Benzodiazepines: The Danger Lurking in the Shadow of Opiates: Fatal overdoses more than quadrupled for benzodiazepines prescriptions,” Psychology Today, 29 June 2017
