One million Czechs overusing psychoactive drugs

One million people in the country are overusing psychoactive drugs such as tranquillizers, insomnia or strong painkillers, according to Czechia's national anti-drug coordinator, Jindřich Vobořil. According to his data, nearly 200,000 people take them daily, and women are about twice as likely to take them as men. According to Vobořil, patients often go to different doctors to get prescriptions for these drugs and doctors frequently fail to check the central database to see what else they are taking. He warned that withdrawal from these drugs can be difficult to manage without medical help, as the symptoms can be life-threatening.