To enjoy a night out with friends, Matt once had to drink until he felt sick.
If he didn’t, the 22-year-old from the north of England would spend the night silent, terrified of saying the wrong thing. The warehouse worker says it felt like there was “just no way into” the conversations everyone else seemed to be enjoying.
Then, two years ago, he swapped pints for prescription drugs he discovered through social media.
As he gets ready to go out on a Friday, Matt, whose name has been changed, now takes a medicine he purchases illegally online that usually treats epilepsy and nerve pain; alongside a beta blocker designed to slow a racing heart and relax trembling muscles (physical symptoms of anxiety).
He says it gives him the effects of alcohol without the hangover.
”The amount of alcohol you have to drink to replicate the effects of these is really unhealthy and it doesn’t feel good,” he says. Matt says the drugs he takes leave him feeling “euphoric,” quietens his anxious thoughts and makes socialising easy, he says.
But experts say taking the drugs without medical supervision at high doses can be dangerous and, in some cases, life-threatening. Long-term use of the drugs can also result in dependency; users find they rely on it for any social situation. They also report increased anxiety, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts when they try to come off the drug.
For Matt, who says he has already tried therapy to treat his social anxiety, what began as a way to get through nights out now extends to dates and family gatherings. Without the drugs, Matt says, there are many social situations he “would not even bother to attempt”.
Matt denies that he has become dependent on the drugs.
Around the world, evidence shows that young people are turning to medications and experimental substances as alternatives to alcohol. Some of them come in pill form – like pregabalin and propranolol, the ones Matt takes. And some are injected – like peptides, a type of protein that’s becoming increasingly popular online.
It’s part of an effort to quell social anxiety, which seems to affect Generation Z particularly sharply: more than a quarter (28%) of people in their early 20s in England report high levels of anxiety, according to a study published last year by University College London, which found that serious mental illnesses are far more common among members of Generation Z than they were among millennials at the same age.
The trend is alarming scientists – and prompting them to ask why some young adults feel they can only socialise with chemical help.
The ‘sober generation’
A search for “healthier” alternatives to drinking has helped create a new market for substances touted on social media as social drugs without the hangover.
They are seen as the “cleaner, safer alternative,” says Liam Knowles, an addiction researcher at Teesside University. “[Users] don’t feel as bad the next day and it’s a medication – so people think it’s safer.”
Exactly how many young people are using prescription drugs and unregulated peptides to socialise is difficult to know, with many obtaining them without a prescription. Knowles thinks there is “probably a substantial amount of people that are getting addicted”.
Hashtags relating to the medications bring up thousands of videos on social media platforms, with users encouraged to create their own cocktail of medications, known online as “stacking”.
The growing interest in these substances comes as young adults are increasingly moving away from alcohol, earning Gen Z the nickname of the ‘sober generation’. The same influencers touting the benefits of these “stacks” also recommend steering clear of alcohol.
Sofia, a customer-service worker from Ukraine, followed a similar path: she initially took pregabalin before parties and social events, but soon began using it at work. “It helped me,” she says. “I work with people. It made it easy to communicate and solve problems.”
When she was unable to access the drug for two weeks, she says she experienced depressive episodes and suicidal thoughts. “I didn’t understand what happened to me. I was anxious, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t see friends.”
Knowles says that younger users often don’t recognise their own drug dependence if they are broadly functioning well (keeping a job or maintaining a relationship). Instead they associate addiction only with people whose lives have visibly fallen apart.
Black market drugs
As China, India and other countries move to clamp down on these drugs, some argue that restricting access further could create different dangers.
Mykyta Lapin, an epidemiologist and head of the Ukrainian harm-reduction organisation Mind Games, says banning substances does not necessarily stop people taking them.
”Banning certain substances simply leads to people turning to the black market and buying drugs of dubious quality,” he says, risking overdoses.
Knowles says illicit pregabalin carries an extra risk because users may not know exactly what they are taking.
”If you buy an alcoholic drink from a shop [in the UK] and it says the amount of units it contains and its percentage, then that’s what it is.” He said the same certainty does not always apply to pregabalin bought online. “That’s an added risk that doesn’t come with a bottle of spirit.”
Matt, despite taking the drugs primarily as a social lubricant, remains convinced that he is also making the healthier choice.
”When I look at the improvement in my quality of life compared with what I see as a very minimal impact on my health, it’s such a clear trade-off,” he says.
”For me, it’s an exchange that’s worth it.”
Matt’s illegal habit remains heavily discouraged by most doctors. But still, with millions of young adults looking for a seemingly easy cure for anxiety, the numbers of people using these alcohol alternatives is likely to rise.
💻THE SCOPE NEWS
