October 10 Benzodiazepines ride opioids’ coattails in the nation’s prescription drug crisis
Benzodiazepine use increases 67% in recent years and overdose deaths attributed to these products have increased four-fold in that same timeframe.
Benzodiazepine use is on the rise, and with it the number of deaths from overdose, indicating that the nation’s prescription drug crisis is not just about opioids.
The statistics are grim. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines increased more than four-fold from 2002 to 2015.1