Diazepam, and other addictive downers

[andycadge]

I'm 46 and have been using diazepam & nitrazepam for 16 years without any side effect or addiction whatsoever, due to carefulness because of previous addictions.

My gripe is, how do you get your GP to see it the same way? How does one get ones doctor to stop worrying about the legal ramifications of prescribing, in moderation, a drug that does so much good? My GP has prescribed all sorts of non-addictive "cures", none of which worked and some of which were positively mind-altering in a bad way (fancy an anti-depressant that makes you shave your hair off and deliberately drive down the wrong side of the road? I thought not). Seriously, should anyone who needs a little bit of chemical help for panic attacks and insomnia, agoraphobia the like, be denied it because a paranoid doctor is following "guidelines" to save himself being sued?

Any ideas? I've had panic attacks, etc, for 27 years, so know the answer for my next 27 years, but how to get a doctor to oblige...