Most people who are long term (lets say 3 yrs or more) users of opiates (and probably have a longer hx of use of drugs in general as most I'm guessing don't start with opiates) have probably also used benzo's and probably at one time or another have, or will use both in combination. Most of those don't drop dead on their first combo of an opiate and a benzo, I would guess.
However, 'Opiate' overdoses, whether or not they result in death, are not in fact 'opiate' od's, strictly speaking as the user will more often than not have one or more drugs in their system at the time.
Opiates are depressants- the risk is respiratory depression, and ultimately respiratory arrest.
Benzo's, alcohol, and barbituates are also depressants.
You have probably heard before that when one drug is combined with another they amplify the effects of each. while never studying the science behind this, or the details, I assume it to be true.
So you take 10mg of an opiate and get effect 'O'
OR you take 10mg of a benzo and get effect 'B'
When you take 10mg of an opiate and 10mg of a benzo you don't simply get effect O+B, the effects, as I understand them are amplified, so that you get effect Ox some additional effect and effect Bx some additional effect, making it like you took more than simply 10mg of each.
Now when high people will sometimes loose track of how many pills of something they took. So they take some oxy and pop a klonopin or 2. And then they are more high, at some point many people will simply be wasted and forget how many benzo's (or oxy's or whatever) they took and take more not realizing what the hell they are doing.
I'm sure you have heard of people doing dumb shit when high and not remembering what exactly they did. If it was saying some stupid shit, well, life goes on. If it was taking 6 pills and forgetting and taking another 5....... maybe life doesn't go on.
Lot's of people (including me) will take benzo's to amplify the effects of an opiate taken. This is more risky than saying, doing funnel's of beer when drunk rather than contining to take beer by sips or gupls through the can/bottle. With beer people pass out and wake up (almost always, rare exceptioins are new users like young kids drinking hard liquor).
I'm personally not a pill popper so am not at high risk of taking several benzo pills (what would be more than my typical tolerance). Others are at higher risk than me with this particular form of drug consumption.
You may take opiates and benzo's in combo for decades and never OD. But just about every 'opiate' OD seen in the ER (or morgue) is from taking opiate along with benzo's. Or opiate plus barbituates except that barb's are less common so less available, hense are less likely to be the 2nd drug take with an opiate. There are other reasons for opiate OD's but they almost always are actually a combo of another depressant, which also exaserbates respiratory depression.
I have not read this thread, just posted in response to the OP and am guessing that others have said similar shit.
Be aware that people OD and die from opiate and benzo combo's. Every time I hear someone tell me (and I have heard it a LOT) about how they 'od'ed' on heroin I ask if they took some ammt of benzo with it. I have never heard "NO". I hear "yeah, but only ....bla bla ammt, or yeah...I took x ammt or in convo hear their confirmation that they did in fact loose track of the ammt of benzo's they took. These are the lucky one's as they are having the convo with me post OD. There are lots of ppl on slabs and in the dirt not having that convo with anyone...but they didn't go in the ground with only an opiate in their blood stream (RARE exceptions).
It's better to be safe than sorry is one motto I try to live by, and therefore preach. If you have an opiate tolerance and are a 'responsible' opiate user (defined by me here for the sake of simplicity as someone who has never OD'ed or had an abulance called on them b/c they were so out of it another called 911 on them) and you have experience using benzo's and only use small ammt's (defined by me as no more than would be prescribed in a day by a dr) you are probably not at HIGH risk of OD so long as you don't use more than your normal ammt of opiate, and so long as your tolerance stays the same (another risk factor is someone who gets clean and then goes back to using ammts they used to use pre tolerance).
But to the degree your reckless (defined here by me as someone who can not say within a mg or 2 of how much benzo's they took every day within the past month or two- not necessarilly like "I took 3mg of xanax last wed, 4mg of klonopin last Thursday- but someone who can't say with certaintly they take between like .5mg of xanax or klonopin and 4-5mg of klonopin- or maybe they took 10mg one day or can't remember or don't really know if they took 10mg of klonopin or 14-16mg of klonopin on any given day......) your at increased risk of OD and subsequently, death.
Death is no joke. Hence the reason people talk of the dangers of mixing drugs that when taken together amplify respiratory depression.
My question is, why is this combination so terrifying to people? I understand there is significant danger if you take a lot of opiates, a lot of benzos and at the same time. But in situations such as these, I don't see why people would typically say definitely not. Any thoughts?
When people are high their judgement is impaired. They are more likely to take more than originally planned once they get some of one or both in their system. This is something that can NOT be controlled with absolute certainty. This is why guys get chicks drunk. They make decisions they woudln't when straight.
So your original plan of taking x ammt of drug A and x ammt of drug B might change once your judgement is impaired, it's in your brain, the brain chemistry and the way it impacts judgement and decision making. And that's not even getting into memory impairment, etc where you take x ammt of drug A, take x ammt of drug B, but then forget whether or not you took x ammt of drug B so you take x ammt of drug B TWICE. And if you do this and are still conscious... the complications re: judgement, memory, etc are further compounded.
My guess is that most ppl who wind up dead from an OD or wind up in the ER b/c of OD did not intend for that to happen before ingesting any drugs that day...... can we agree on this?
