Mark Lawton is addicted to morphine. He says: 'I was in agonising pain and I started eating the Sevredol tablets like toffees'
Britain has a new drug problem: two million of us are addicted to tranquillizers, while countless thousands abuse over-the-counter painkillers. How has this unchecked culture of legal drug addiction been allowed to flourish, asks Nina Lakhani?What do Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley have in common? They were all taking tranquillizers - prescription drugs for insomnia, depression, anxiety - at the time of their deaths. The results of toxicology tests undertaken after Jackson's death in June are expected to reveal the presence of drugs to alleviate pain, depression and anxiety, and will inevitably reignite the debate about the benefits and human costs of drugs that are prescribed by doctors or bought over the counter in vast quantities the world over.