The Benzo Mega Thread
Since half of the posts in this forum are dedicated to various benzodiazepines I think it could benefit the forum to remove clutter and throw it all into one thread.
Here I will make a chart with links to more common information on Benzos and then you can reply with any other questions.
Without further ado ...
BENZODIAZEPINE BASICS
What is a Benzo?
From Wikipedia, sums it up pretty nicely:
The benzodiazepines, often abbreviated to "benzos", are a class of sedative hypnotic psychoactive drugs with varying hypnotic, sedative, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and amnesic properties, which are mediated by slowing down the central nervous system.[1] Benzodiazepines are useful in treating anxiety, insomnia, agitation, seizures, and muscle spasms, as well as alcohol withdrawal. They can also be used before certain medical procedures such as endoscopies or dental work where tension and anxiety are present, and prior to some unpleasant medical procedures in order to induce sedation and amnesia[2] for the procedure. Another use is to counteract anxiety-related symptoms upon initial use of SSRIs and other antidepressants, or as an adjunctive treatment. Recreational stimulant users often use benzodiazepines as a means of "coming down" (see: Drug abuse). Benzodiazepines are also used to treat the panic that can be caused by hallucinogen intoxication.[3]
The long-term use of benzodiazapines can cause physical dependence. The use of benzodiazepines should therefore commence only after medical consultation and benzodiazepines should be prescribed the smallest dosage possible to provide an acceptable level of symptom relief. Dependence varies with the benzodiazepine used and with the user.
What happens if I take them?
Benzos will typically relax your body, as well as your mind. This means it will be harder to keep your balance and use your mind to full capacity. Most users tend to forget things and a lot of the time people can black out for hours or a whole night. They do lower your inhibitions and have been used as tools to take advantage of girls, and very occassionally rape them. This is not as common as the DEA would want you to believe, but it happens. They also tend to make you think very irrationally and do things you wouldn't even think to do if you were sober.
DO NOT DRIVE IF YOU GET HIGH ON THESE! IT'S WORSE THAN ON ALCOHOL!
The way it affects your driving is terrible. You're reaction time is shot. It seems every week I read of an accident related to benzos and I live in a small city. The reason you are such a bad driver when high on this stuff is becaue you don''t realize you are really that high. But you ARE! Give you keys to a friend if you have your car and are using benzos, it will save your life. Thats no joke and this sure ain't no anti-drug commercial either.
THIS IS SERIOUS!
From reading through various experiences and seeing and experiencing them, they make you more physically inebriated than you think you are to a passerby or friend, and they tend to take away inhibitions and cause people to do things they normally wouldn't such as
shoplift (link provided), known by police and hospitals to be a VERY common when occurance when people are under the influence of the various benzodiazepines.
Are they Safe?
Many people assume thay because it is a pharmaceutical that it is safe. This is just not true for any medicine.
First of all, they are addictive. Many experts claim they the withdrawals are more severe than heroin. It is easy to get addicted to this class of drugs because they take away our stress, and they have the tendency to make you want more after you have taken some.
The LD50 (or lethal dose) for diazepam is 720 mg/kg in mice and 1240 mg/kg in rats. What this means is it is very very hard to kill yourself on these pills. This does not mean it is safe to consume extremely large amounts due to
resperitory depression and coma.
Also, this is important and I will get into detail a little more in the Combination section. Benzos alone are fine. Add any other depressant to it and you may run into a problem. Beer is a common one. You could be having a good time on benzos and drink 2 or 3 beers, suddenly you could black out and do some really stupid stuff. What alcohol seems to do to peoples minds when mixed with alcohol is, for the lack of better wording, make them sloppy stupid lunatics. The combo is not a good party combo, you will be known as that guy or girl who broke the $3000 Plasma. If you want advice with this ask, but it is better avoided at all costs.
There are other downers and other drugs you should take care with in taking with benzos, and for that please refer to the section entitled "
What drugs react dangerously with Benzodiazepines?."
[How much should I take?
If your benzos are prescribed by a doctor, the best way to take it is as prescribed. You may need to work with your doctor to find a dose that makes you feel the way you should on them - free from stress. If you want to get a buzz from them, double your regular dose. There is no reason to go above this because that is when you don't feel any higher but only act higher (this is more an opinion, if anyone wants me to refute that feel free).
If you are not acquiring these benzos from a doctor, use a pill identifier first. There is
one here, and
a very good one here. This allows you to know what the dosage is of what you are taking (don't trust anyone on what they say, some people will sell you 500mg vicodin). Then you want to take one of those pills and cut it in half. Then take that half and cut it in half, so you have a quarter. Swallow that quarter of a pill and wait 40 minutes. If you don't feel anything, take the other quarter and wait 40 minutes and repeat. When you find yourself start to get high, stop and figure out how much you took. This is your sweet spot. It is ideal to take the minimum to get you high in order to keep your tolerance down. If you want to try to get higher, use the same method. If you are stupid take a bunch of them and go out in public.
TREAT THIS DRUG WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT!
Good threshhold amounts for first time recreational users who have friends around, aren't driving or operating machinery:
[Xanax - 0.5 mg
Klonopin - 1 mg
Ativan - 1mg
Valium - 5 mg
Injection of Benzos
Do NOT attempt to break down a pill and inject it. It has no better effects and is only dangerous. Most benzos are not water solubale including all the common ones listed below. The only way a benzo is safe for injection is if it is in an ampule that is meant for injection.
THIS IS SERIOUS! It is common knowledge around here but if you have to ask, ask here.
Here is a guide to safer injection, if you must:
http://harm.live.radicaldesigns.org/article.php?id=212
What are different kinds of Benzos?
Most generic pharmaceutical names that end in -lam, -pam. This list is not totally inclusive but a good one can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_benzodiazepines
These are the more commonly prescribed ones. Should you come across a different one you should do some research before using any.
I switched benzos - how much should I take of the new one?
This is a hard one to answer because everybody reacts differently to benzos. Some get nothing from Valium from any dose, some will fall asleep on the lowest dose possible. The same chart I reference in the next question can be used for this purpose.
http://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm
This compares the equivalent dosages to different benzos using Valium as the control chemical. It's off here and there and not everyone agrees with it, but it is the best around that I have seen and should help you well in this case.
How long Will a Benzo stay in my system and keep me high?
This is a great half-life chart found in the Other Drugs Directory (where I will be getting much more information to follow).
Half Life/Bioavailability Chart
* This link is now dead.
<Edit- It is recommended to use the Ashton Manual half-life/equivalence chart. Half-life does not equate to the length of intoxication, but the length of biological activity. It is a good indicator of what to expect as far as how long the drug will linger, though. -Pega>
Questions should be asked in this thread.
What drugs react dangerously with Benzodiazepines?
There is one drug in which it is common knowledge in the OD community that combination can easily lead to death by respiratory depression (stop breathing) and that is Heroin and other Opiates. Many people use this combo because they like how it makes them feel. This is extremely dangerous and has lead to many, many deaths. If you do decide to try this combo please don't kill yourself and titrate your dosage, i.e. start small with your doses, take less of each than you normally would, and don't go crazy with them. They kill too many people and to see another BL'er pass because of this combo would not be a good day.
There are other drugs in which you should not combine benzos with. A drug interaction checker is available at drugs.com
http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.php
USE THIS TOOL BEFORE YOU TRY ANY COMBOS AND IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ASK BEFORE YOU TRY IT! It could save your life.
ADDICTION TO BENZODIAZEPINES
As mentioned earlier, it has been said by many experts that benzo withdrawals are worse than heroin withdrawals. They are right. Your body has dangerous grand mal seizures and goes through a very rough time. If you are on a high regular dose of a benzo do not ever just stop taking them - you need to taper down.
You should DEFINITELY go to your doctor to make this happen. If this is not possible, then this is a good source for tapering:
Guide to tapering by Professor Ashton You can read her credentials on this link but she has been dealing with this since they came out on the market in '85.
What typically happens with benzos is that over time they lose the "high" that you may have gotten and just take them to maintain and stay away from what is called "rebound anxiety" from not having them in your system. This is when you know you are addicted and when you should make a decision on seeking help to taper off.
SPECIFIC BENZODIAZEPINES
Borrowed from GenericMind's Directory Thread (thanks GM)
Alprazolam (Xanax)
Alprazolam has a half life of 4-8 hours and the effects usually last 4 hours in most users. It typically starts to work orally in 15-30 minutes. Orally it has a bioavailability of 90%+.It is a common benzo in the U.S. prescribed for short term anxiety or for break-thru anxiety along with other benzos.
Dosing with Xanax
Snorting Xanax
Xanax Blackouts (this is common!)
Xanax XR discussion
Xanax Overdosing
Xanax and Drug Testing
Clonazepam (Klonopin)
Clonazepam has a half-life of 8-12 hours and the effects typically last 6-8 hours for most. It works orally in about 30 minutes and has an oral bioavailability of 90%+. It is prescribed commmonly in the US and other countries for long term anxiety control and is sometimes supplemented with a short term benzo such as xanax or ativan for break-thru anxiety.
Dosing with Clonazepam
Snorting Clonazepam
Clonazepam Tolerance
Drug Testing with Clonazepam
Diazepam (Valium)
Once the most commonly prescribed benzo (possibly still is), it's overuse in active prescribing in the 80's and 90's led to the realization benzos aren't as safe as most thought. It tends to last the longest out of all the benzos, 6-8 hours or more with a half life up to over 200 hours. It has a bioavaiability of 90%+ like most benzodiazepines (I Know I am getting a bit redundant here). It is typically prescribed by doctors for use in long term anxiety support and is also used to taper people from other benzos.
Dosing on Valium
Snorting Valium
Valium Drug Testing
Injecting liquid valium
Lorazepam (Ativan)
Ativan is the benzo of choice in hospitals as it is able to be made into an injectible solution and used IM/IV (don't try this with the pills). It has a half life of 4-6 hours and typically lasts for 4 hours. It's bioavailability is also above 90% orally and can cause unpleasant hallucinations in certain individuals (see link). Usually it is prescribed for PRN or as-needed use.
Dosing with Ativan
Snorting Ativan
Ativan and Hallucinations
Ativan and Drug Testing
These are the main benzos prescribed in the US and UK for anxiety. However, there are many that are not that are available and around.
UNCOMMON BENZOS
bromazepam
chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
flurazepam (Dalmane)
nitrazepam (Mogadon)
oxazepam (Serax)
temazepam (Restoril)
flunitrazepam (Rohypnol)
midazolam (Dormicum)
triazolam (Halcion)
This list is just the more common uncommons, if you have a specific question about an even rarer benzodiazpine bring it up in this thread so I can add to it.
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That is all for now, more to be added as needed. Basically, let's keep all benzo questions and comments here guys. I wish I had a sign but I don't, but
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