 When did you first take Valium?
  When I was about 13 years old.
    People continue to mix drugs
 and take substances like diazepam.
          They're dying.
 HE COUGHS
 Do you want me to pop you down?
   I've got you, I've got you.
         Watch yourself.
  The last time I seen him, he was
 like a skeleton with a skin graft.
  Diazepam's always been around
 and it's always been consistent.
      Scotland's little helper.
 Yes, Scotland's little helper, yeah.
  Whilst alcohol, ecstasy and heroin
 have historically been at the centre
     of Scotland's drug scene,
 Valium has been a silent partner,
 hard at work in the background,
     with many users craving
    a tranquilised existence.
           It's 10.15am
 and Jamie is calling his dealer.
          Hi, mate, cool.
 Eh, what, a score, mate, a score.
 Nae worries mate, that sounds ideal.
         Cheers mate, sweet.
          It's like your...
 it's your favourite kind of sweetie.
       It tastes like that.
    He has a Valium addiction
     and, like thousands of
    other people in Scotland,
     he doesn't get the pills
         from his doctor.
 He buys them from a local dealer.
     Do you want to show us
     what you got then? Aye.
     So, how many's in there?
 It's ten, ten in each strip. Yeah.
        But you bought 20?
        Aye, aye, that's why,
 when I said a score, that means 20.
   How much does 20 cost? £20.
      Aye, that's breakfast.
       All right? Yes, go.
            Excuse me.
   Would you consider yourself
   to be dependent on Valium?
    At the moment, aye, yeah.
     It fills that emptiness and
 it feels like it's your own shield.
  You're wrapped in bubble wrap and
 things don't really matter as much.
  But then again, the problem's
   still there in the morning,
        if you're willing
     to just not address it.
    But they certainly do help
  and calm the stresses of life.
   Scotland has a big problem with
 Valium, otherwise known as diazepam.
  76% of drug-related deaths involve
 the pills, or drugs similar to them,
  compared to figures in England
      and Wales of just 11%.
              Right.
    In Dundee, there has been
   a recent spate of overdoses
            involving
 the once widely prescribed drug.
 It wasn't long before I met Billy,
        who explained to me
     the wide range of pills
     available on the street.
      Right, so that's MTZ,
  so what are these pills like?
     How much are these each?
     So that's 50p per pill?
  Is the going rate, basically.
               Aye.
 It was clear from talking to Billy
   that not all the blue pills on
 the street contain genuine Valium.
     Many of them were fake.
       I met Kenny Simpson
       at Police Scotland
 who has made tackling the Valium
        issue a priority.
           He showed me
  a range of fake Valium tablets
       recovered from raids
      on DIY drug factories.
      This is just a sample
  of a large seizure of tablets
 that have been illicitly produced.
        We've had seizures of
 a million tablets in one operation,
   so that reflects the scale
  of what's actually out there.
   The main issues are twofold.
      The illicit production
         of the tablets,
 which brings with it the concerns
    that it's not pharmacists.
 And then the serious and organised
   crime involvement in diverting
      blister pack tablets
     from lawful production.
     Probably one of the most
        understated drugs
          and has been
   for a long number of years.
 The users can be quite ambivalent
     about what the outcome is
    in terms of their health.
      But if people continue
           to mix drugs
 and take substances like diazepam,
 or the equivalent, they're dying.
 Many of these blue pills contain
 Valium-like drugs far stronger,
 and potentially more dangerous, than
 whatever users think they're buying.
  Back in Dundee, I met a user
  named Levi and his friend AJ.
     They'd known each other
      since Levi was young.
     The whole time he'd been
       addicted to Valium.
 Levi was heading home to take some
  blue pills he'd recently bought.
 Did you put them in the kinder egg?
            Aye, aye.
 The pills Levi was taking looked
 very similar to the fake tablets
 I'd seen at the police station.
   They had NTZ stamped on them
       and were sold loose.
    When you moved to Dundee,
   did you find that Valium was
      very easily available?
               Wow.
 When did you first take Valium?
       How old are you now?
 Would you usually take 30, 40 Valium
    as well as smoking legal highs
  and taking methadone? Yes. OK.
       That's not unusual.
         Like many users,
      Levi was taking Valium
 with a combination of other drugs.
 This can be particularly dangerous,
       and the effects were
     really starting to show.
 HE SLURPS
 You're jerking a bit, mate. Do you
 want me to help you pick that up?
       Pop it on the floor.
       Pop it on the floor.
              Um...
 HE LAUGHS
 Sorry, mate, just really surprised
   me then, came out of nowhere.
    Well, you could say that.
 THEY LAUGH
 HE MUMBLES
     As we continued to chat,
        there were moments
     when it became difficult
       to understand Levi.
 HE SLURS
   He'd have moments of clarity
        and then drop off.
 I thought you fell asleep then.
 HE COUGHS LABORIOUSLY
   Do you want to pop you down?
   I've got you, I've got you.
         Watch yourself.
         Watch yourself.
       How are you feeling?
      I'll just put this out
  so it doesn't burn the carpet.
  You've got a Bible over there.
           Yeah, yeah.
      You're Christian? Mm.
 LEVI MUMBLES
     That kind of smells like
       it might be burning.
 LEVI MUMBLES
 I'll tell you what, it's amazing.
              Mm-hm.
      Would you like to stop
          taking Valium?
              Yeah.
 THEY LAUGH
  Levi was shutting himself off
         from the world
  to avoid getting into trouble
     whilst high on Valium -
  the very drug he used to deal
  with loneliness and isolation.
 Valium has been widely prescribed
    for anxiety and depression
         since the '60s.
     However, in the late '80s,
 doctors started to scale this back
     because so many patients
      developed addictions.
     Gareth Balmer has worked
        to help drug users
          for ten years
    at the charity Addaction.
 He explained to me why Scotland has
   such a big problem with Valium.
        Like lots of things
 it was seen as a bit of a panacea.
 I mean this is not a Scottish thing,
      this is a worldwide thing.
          And they work.
    And so they were prescribed,
 but nobody really saw the problems.
 Because when they were first sold,
           not addictive.
  I think you can find adverts,
            you know,
   there's this new great drug,
       it's not addictive,
  it's not like the barbiturates
   or some of these other drugs
       that are dangerous,
     it's going to be great.
      They were wrong, it was
 dependence-producing or addictive.
       And interestingly has
 a really quite severe withdrawal.
 How many pills, what kind of doses
         are people taking
        that you're seeing
     coming into the service?
  It's not abnormal for somebody
    to be taking 30, 40 a day.
   If you take a drug every day,
 you build tolerance to that drug.
     Like a lot of medicines,
  the longer you take something,
       the less effective
       it tends to become.
          You tend to see
 more of the negative side effects
 and less of the positive effects
           of the drugs
   over a long period of time.
 And a lot of people using drugs,
 they're always chasing that feeling
    that they'll never get back.
   Why is there such a high use
      of Valium in Scotland?
    We are famous for caring about
 our money in Scotland, so, you know,
   £10 rock of crack, smoke it,
         you'll be stimulated
 for 10, 15 minutes. It'll feel good.
 For the same price, I could have
        100mg of diazepam
    where you can escape from your
 reality for the next couple of days.
  Diazepam's always been around,
 and it's always been consistent.
      Scotland's little helper.
 Yes, Scotland's little helper, yes.
    Do you think the rise of
 drug-related deaths in Scotland
  is connected to the extensive
  use of Valium on the street?
     I would say, on its own,
          no, it's not.
    Unfortunately, when people
    are dying from drug death,
      overdose in Scotland,
       it's poly-drug use.
    It's Valium plus alcohol,
    it's Valium plus heroin,
   it's Valium plus methadone.
 So, when it's used in combination
         with those drugs,
  yes, it is dangerous and it is
   implicated in those deaths,
      from our perspective.
 Normally what's happened to people
   is they're becoming so relaxed
    that their brain just stops
 telling them to breathe any more.
   Gareth put me in touch with
   Jo Roden, whose son, John,
 had died after taking the tablets,
              aged 32.
 Like Levi, and many other users,
      John had mixed Valium
         with methadone.
 Jo took me to the flat where John's
 body had been found three years ago.
 This is wee John's house in the
 first tenement there on the top.
 Have you been down here since? No.
 You've not been down since? No.
 Do you find yourself kind of craning
   round when you pass in the car?
          I didn't look.
 If it's a coping mechanism or what,
            I don't know.
     Nice place he lived in,
   nothing the matter with it,
     it's just where he died.
 It's only a house. He's no there.
 I didn't really want to look at it,
           but that's it.
    Cos it's the same blinds.
    Does that haunt you, that?
      Yes, cos I broke them.
      Cos when I'd went in,
 the police had the blinds down,
    like the way they are now.
   And I tried to pull them up
    and the string came away
      and I grabbed at them
     and I broke them. So...
  Know what I mean, that's where
   he died sitting on his sofa.
      It's hard to believe.
         You know. It is.
       Jo, mate, come here.
 THEY CHUCKLE
    Are there a lot of people
     in the wider community
   who've lost people to Valium
             as well?
       Yes, definitely yes.
      At least one a month.
 How many people do you personally
   know who've lost people to...
           Personally?
      ..to Valium overdoses?
              Five.
   Five personally? And that's
   all in the last few years?
         Yes. Last year.
     In the last year? Yeah.
 Jo's close friend Caroline lost
 her brother Shaun to an overdose
 involving Valium four years ago.
 Everything like, my wee brother,
      it was just like a hit
       in the face for me.
        He was the baby,
  I never expected it from him.
 You seen him and you seen that
 he was getting worse and worse.
 And the last time I seen him he was
 like a skeleton with a skin graft.
  Mmm. It was like you could see
 his bones right through his skin.
         It was horrible.
 Do you ever really think about maybe
     why your brother took drugs?
 I can't understand how he started.
     I think at first they think
 they can control their drug intake,
         but they can't,
 the drugs take over, don't they?
         And that's hard,
 that's hard for us to live with.
      You're angry at people
      that are making them,
  you're angry at people that are
 sending them, you just get angry.
    And then it's all sadness.
       You're angry at them
        for taking them...
 but they took them for a reason
         and I think it's
   to escape from your reality.
               I mean,
 it didn't matter what I said to him.
    Didn't matter what anybody
  said to him, know what I mean?
          And...then...
     ..you've just got to...
             ..um...
   It's just a downward spiral,
            isn't it?
  Rather than an upward struggle,
 it's a downward spiral, isn't it?
               Mm.
   Earlier on, I promised Levi
   I would pop back to see him.
 However, when I got to his flat,
   he seemed pretty out of it.
 I met with Levi's friend AJ, who'd
  previously been his drug worker.
     She decided to visit him
 when she'd heard about the cocktail
   of drugs that he'd been taking.
          Levi, it's AJ!
          It's AJ, man.
   Get a grip of yourself, kid.
         Check your eyes.
         Yeah, you have.
 You've took two strips, haven't you?
 See, see what I mean? Don't lie
  to me, don't lie to me, Levi.
             20 what?
        What do you want?
 Do you know where you should be?
           Where I am.
 You can't cope on your own, Levi.
       The way you are now.
 LEVI MUMBLES
    You know what I'm going to
   say to you, don't you, Levi?
         Yes. The doctor.
  Get the fucker cleaned up now.
    Get you fucking cleaned up
    and get your head sorted.
 Get your finger out your arse, mate.
   Don't do what everybody else
       is doing around you
   and do what you want to do.
        I have never ever
 seen your flat like this before.
   I've seen you in this state.
         Worse than this.
   But I've never seen your flat
 like this, please, I... You know,
  if that lad didn't come for me
  tonight and I didn't see you,
  d'you know what would happen?
                No.
 I'd be looking for you in Dundee.
             For you.
            That's me.
 Worried about you, but again...
     you cannot kid a kidder.
  Been there and done it myself.
        No, man. Exactly.
   I know someone who works...
 LEVI MUMBLES
     Please don't smoke that
         in front of me.
    That legal high. Please,
  I don't take it myself, so...
            Thank you.
         Whoa, Levi man!
           Ha'way, son.
             Ha'way.
  Put your head together, kidda.
     Give your head a shake.
            Levi, man.
  Pull yourself together, kidda.
     He's had a bereavement.
  He had two when I was working
            with him
 and obviously he's had another one
   since I haven't been working
            with him.
         So that's three
      in the last four year.
 You know, so that is quite a thing
       on his head, playing.
  And he hasn't grieved over it.
            He hasn't.
 I don't like seeing you like this,
             you know.
 I'd like to boot you up the arse
      and get you into gear.
   Sorry...sorry for swearing.
          Don't be daft.
 But that's how I feel like doing.
        I do, but I can't.
      So I know you're going
         to be all right.
    No, just to know that I know
 that you're going to be all right.
 How many have you bought today?
            In a bag?
     So you've took 30 today.
              Yeah?
  You've took 20 today, darling.
  Are you going to be all right?
          Yes, honestly.
  I do worry about you, darling.
 I do. I do worry about you, I do.
   I'm all right, I'm spot on.
         I need to know...
 What you up to now? He won't know.
        He's just picking
 all his legal high wrappers up.
       I can't believe you.
       You little shithead.
        Hang them up now.
   Rosary beads, hang them up.
        You against Lord?
            I need...
     What's your smoke alarm
       doing on the floor?
   Is he going to be all right to
 leave, are you happy to leave him?
   Yes, I'm happy to leave him
  cos he's... Sound as a pound.
     He's sound as a pound,
  he knows, he's talking to me.
              You know,
 he's opened his eyes like he is now.
 There with a smile on the face,
            you know.
        I know he's happy.
 Right, I'm going anyway, big boy.
    I love you and leave you,
         you know. I do.
 I'm leaving my spirit in this room
         to look after you.
      Where's the bin chute?
  Right outside your door? Yeah.
     It wants to be, you know.
 I'm not going up all those stairs.
 THEY LAUGH
         Coming to Dundee,
 I had half expected to find people
 high on Valium having a good time.
 But the reality was very different.
     Valium is a lonely drug,
 offering only a temporary escape
      from life's problems.
 You need to sort out deprivation.
    Unfortunately in Scotland,
        we have some real
  poverty-stricken communities.
   So I can sit with somebody and
 we can really engage with somebody,
        but unfortunately
     they've got to go home.
 I went to meet Levi the next day
     to see how he was doing.
     How many Valium tablets
     did you take yesterday?
  Probably about 100 eventually.
 So that... Is that a normal amount
  for you to take in a day? Yeah.
 Look, I was on 230 tablets a day
  and I was still walking around
     like it was no tomorrow.
       Walking around like
       it was no tomorrow?
   Like there was no tomorrow.
 It could knock a horse out, man.
   But Levi just wanders along
  like there's nowt the matter.
           No problem.
 Do you worry about your health?
               No.
  Why? Why bother about health?
       It's all you've got.
      We all die some point.
 I know, but it's all you've got
       until that happens.
  When that happens, it happens.
           I'm not saying
 I want to die early, by any chance,
     I want a nice long life.
  But, please believe, I've had
  some funny old life me, yeah.
       If I went tomorrow,
       it doesn't matter.
          What, I mean,
 do you want to come off Valium?
 You want to stop taking Valium.
              Yeah.
     Do you consider yourself
       to be addicted? Yes.
 Everyone has choices in their life
       to do right or wrong.
 It's up to them to make that choice.
 Time to start looking for a job
           and stuff.
    Start, um...becoming back
          into society
      and, um, working hard.
         Like I used to.
    Used to do voluntary work
         and everything
    and I'm just going through
      a blip at the minute.
   What would you say to people
           about Valium
   as someone who's had a lot of
 close personal experience with it?
  She can be the loveliest woman
           in the world
           and she can be
 the most evilest cow in the world.
     What, Valium can? Yeah.
        She can be amazing
        and she can be...
       She can be the god
    and she can be the devil.
       I'll get mine, yeah.
          Hello, there.
 HE TALKS TO THE WAITRESS
 I'm good enough to come in here...
 You've been very helpful, thank you.
           No problem.
