Addiction to prescribed medicines

Recommendation 2233 (2022)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 31 May 2022 (see Doc. 15454, report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Mr Joseph O’Reilly).

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 2441 (2022) “Addiction to prescribed medicines”. It is convinced that this topic should be given a higher priority in Europe. It considers that the Council of Europe, with its various specialised bodies (such as the Council of Europe International Co-operation Group on Drugs and Addiction (Pompidou Group), the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare and the Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health), is well placed to contribute to preventing and fighting harmful addiction to prescribed medicines.

2. The Assembly thus recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

2.1 consider issuing a recommendation on the rights of patients in relation to the use of prescription medicines, setting out, inter alia, the right to effective access to and the availability of essential medicines, including those that contain controlled substances under international law, and the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, free of dependency or addiction;

2.2 encourage the relevant Council of Europe bodies to work closely with the World Health Organization in this area, including on the possible drafting and issuance of guidance on prevention, identification, management and treatment of addiction to/dependence on prescribed medicines at global and/or Council of Europe level.