Apparently being sold for misuse at the moment???? Could anybody shed some light as to why and possible side effects please? I will post if any clients decides to tell me why!!

I've heard of a few cases of this and I assume it came from people going to pain clinics and being given this for nerve pain. I believe it gives a feeling of euphoria - loads of side-effects though should you get them.

In the words of one prisoner... "I don't want any of that stuff, makes you feel drunk"
This attitude is highly atypical in prison, though, where generally it is very popular, I guess for the very same reason.

ahhhhh this explains a lot... presume it beats 'hooch' thanks for the ideas

on the benzo site it is moted that it is another benzo in disguise... not only giving a similar effect, but having problems with stopping it

I have heard it is misused in prisons but sometimes as a last resort when no opiates are available, or in conjunction with other substances. It possibly eases the pain of withdrawal if postings I have read on the internet are to be believed

I blame the neurologists too

Some people on admission to prison will claim they are on it, (also often claim they are on clonazepam!) or will inflate the dose they are actually on. Always necessary to confirm with GP before blindly prescribing

gabapentin has become a major drug of abuse in the prisons - usually requested as a form of analgesia for musculoskeletal pain.

None of my mainstream colleagues are aware of this. Nor was I until very recently. As the SMMGP is sort of an offshoot of the RCGP, should the RCGP be involved in notification of their members? There are, of course, other methods to inform GPs but who actually gets this started?

It's certainly well known that it's being abused across the prison estate. It's an interesting point that there is little awareness of the issue amongst GPs at large. I hadn't given it much thought up to now.

I'm not sure that the RCGP would get involved through any direct notifications. But perhaps an article for RCGP news or one of the rags might be an option to help disseminate info.

Don't forget to fill out yellow cards, the drug company has no data on this surprisingly.

Hmm, yes. One could imagine that a line or two in the BNF (if there is sufficient concern) would be just about the best way to get a message over.

This is a really good point as quite often i hear about medication being sold and want to know the misuse potential, ie the effects on somebody who doesn't actually need the medication, this surprisingly is quite difficult to find.

outreach workers and needle exchange workers are often quite good on this sort of thing