Depressants (non-opioid)
Benzodiazepines, Z-drugs, barbiturates, GHB/GBL, and muscle relaxants — substances that suppress CNS activity.
Latest reporting
He Took the Same Pill for 20 Years. Coming Off It Nearly Killed Him Faster Than Staying On Ever Would.
A pharmacist's 20 years on prescribed lorazepam, and what the research says about why benzodiazepine dependence is so often mismanaged by the very system built to treat it.
The Sedative Crackdown Worked in the Waiting Room. It Never Reached the Nursing Home — or the Street.
A national study of 25 million older Americans finds benzodiazepine prescribing plateaued after 2020 while long-term-care dispensing rose 85%. Meanwhile, GHB deaths are climbing and DEA keeps emergency-scheduling designer benzodiazepines it can't keep up with.
A GHB Overdose Cluster Killed One Person in Wellington Over a Single Weekend. The Trend Line Behind It Has Been Climbing for a Decade.
A GHB overdose cluster in Wellington, New Zealand left one person dead and three hospitalized in a single weekend. Australian research shows GHB deaths have risen tenfold since 2013 — and the drug's overdose margin is narrower than most users realize.
Through eight lenses
Science
GABA-A positive allosteric modulators (benzos, Z-drugs), GHB at GHB receptor + GABA-B.
The Sedative Crackdown Worked in the Waiting Room. It Never Reached the Nursing Home — or the Street.
Jul 13Seven Days Is the Line Between a Benzodiazepine Prescription and a Benzodiazepine Habit
Jul 3Substance Spotlight: Benzodiazepines — The Overlooked Crisis, and a First Glimpse of a Pharmacological Solution
May 24
Biology
Sedation, anterograde amnesia, paradoxical disinhibition. Withdrawal: kindling effect, protracted symptoms, seizure risk.
He Took the Same Pill for 20 Years. Coming Off It Nearly Killed Him Faster Than Staying On Ever Would.
Jul 23The First Benzodiazepine Prescription Doesn't Look Like a Drug Problem. That's Exactly How It Becomes One.
Jul 3Prescribed and Trapped: Medicare's Benzodiazepine Numbers Reveal a Crisis Built by Doctors
Jun 3
Psychology
Chronic benzo dependence via therapeutic use; iatrogenic pathway; cognitive effects.
He Took the Same Pill for 20 Years. Coming Off It Nearly Killed Him Faster Than Staying On Ever Would.
Jul 23The First Benzodiazepine Prescription Doesn't Look Like a Drug Problem. That's Exactly How It Becomes One.
Jul 3Seven Days Is the Line Between a Benzodiazepine Prescription and a Benzodiazepine Habit
Jul 3
Policy
Schedule IV (benzos, Z-drugs), II (barbiturates), I (GHB), but designer benzos (etizolam, flubromazolam) circulate as novel psychoactives.
Trends
Benzo Rx rising; designer benzo detection in overdose deaths; fentanyl-benzo co-use lethal combination.
A GHB Overdose Cluster Killed One Person in Wellington Over a Single Weekend. The Trend Line Behind It Has Been Climbing for a Decade.
Jul 11Prescribed and Trapped: Medicare's Benzodiazepine Numbers Reveal a Crisis Built by Doctors
Jun 3Non-Opioid Depressants: Benzos, Z-Drugs, and the Ones You Didn't Know About
May 8
Treatment
Slow taper (Ashton Manual), CBT for anxiety, flumazenil only for overdose.
He Took the Same Pill for 20 Years. Coming Off It Nearly Killed Him Faster Than Staying On Ever Would.
Jul 23The First Benzodiazepine Prescription Doesn't Look Like a Drug Problem. That's Exactly How It Becomes One.
Jul 3Prescribed Into a Corner: The Benzodiazepine Dependence Millions Don't Know They Have
Jun 13
Harm Reduction
NEVER mix with opioids/alcohol, test-strip availability for designer benzos, naloxone doesn't reverse benzo respiratory depression.
The Sedative Crackdown Worked in the Waiting Room. It Never Reached the Nursing Home — or the Street.
Jul 13A GHB Overdose Cluster Killed One Person in Wellington Over a Single Weekend. The Trend Line Behind It Has Been Climbing for a Decade.
Jul 11Designer Xanax Goes Schedule I: The DEA Made History. Whether It Made Anyone Safer Is a Different Question.
Jun 23