Other dependence-producing drugs
The illicit use of drugs has taken on global dimensions. New patterns of drug abuse can easily develop as a result of excessive availability and inadequate regulatory controls. There is sufficient reason to believe that unregulated, excessive drug supply and consumption trends in certain countries may be continuing and that new problems may be developing. Pain and other forms of suffering may result from disease or from a state of dependence on otherwise beneficial psychoactive drugs following prolonged, excessive use.
Although unavailability of drugs may deprive patients of their fundamental rights and the opportunity for relief from pain, excessive availability of drugs may result in the diversion of such drugs to illicit trafficking and drug abuse, leading to drug dependence, and may thus cause unnecessary suffering. In developed countries for example, the prevalence of anxiety and insomnia and the consumption of sedative hypnotics are growing, the elderly being the main group of consumers. The INCB notes with concern the frequent long-term use (beyond one year and sometimes indefinitely) of psychotropic substances for treating psychological reactions to social pressure without a diagnosis for a specific disorder. The abuse of these drugs and others such as benzodiazepines and other anxiolytics continues to be widespread in many countries and requires appropriate vigilance and countermeasures.