I do know that chris cornell committed suicide on quite a bit of ativan, and the claim is from his wife he never would have without the drug's influence. (I don't know if name dropping like this is against forums policy). Don't get me wrong, it really can be a great prescription to have for a lot of people. It does it's job as a benzo, it's just that for me in higher doses I start to get strange side effects that I have never gotten on other benzos.
But most people who use benzos recreationally find it to be displeasing for some reason. Ativan is prescribed usually as a starting benzo from what I gather, because nowadays in the US doctors can totally be hesitant to prescribe patients on heavier benzos like klonopin/xanax due to their higher abuse potential as far as society and benzo use goes. Ativan is definitely weaker than alprazolam in effects. I've never found benzos to be recreational, but I could see how ativan doesn't serve as a fun drug lol. In higher doses it does kill anxiety but it makes me very spaced out as well. I never really went past 2 milligrams ever, and even 2 milligrams felt like a lot for me as I do not have benzo tolerance.
Either way I've also found with benzos after a certain amount I wake up the next day very hung-over and grouchy, sometimes in the worst mood. 8 milligrams of ativan would definitely send me off into the worst benzo-over ever lol.