Benzos Friend is abusing Clorazepam... what advice can I give him?

[Warped Reality]

He's seriously hooked on them now. I've never seen someone so crazy over these things... He does them every day. He's been doing them EVERY day for about two months now, taking from 3-10 pills at once.

I can tell he's addicted because when he's not on them, he's fidgety, always talking about them, pissed off, feeling sick, and he just looks "out of it", and he won't stop blabbering on about how he wants more.

He's started stealing from his friends, selling everything he has, stealing cars, drug dealing, etc, just to get his hands on some more of these pills...

I try to tell him how dangerous they are and he doesn't listen. Honestly he would probably beat the shit out of me if I told him that he's fucking himself over. I want to give him the facts but I don't think he'll listen...

If you had a friend in this situation, what would you do?

 

[x719]

i am in that situation just with xanax and i'd say leave the dude alone

Wow really? Every single post i read of yours is completely irrelevant, does not help the OP in any way at all, or is completely off topic, seriously. Yeah just leave him alone until he spirals way out of control to the point of no return, great advice!

To the op: My advice to you, is to sit down with your friend and make it sound like you are not attacking him at all, and reassure him that you are telling him this because you care.. Let him know that he is on the verge of a physical dependance to benzos, and that its no longer just getting high after a while, its keeping yourself well and avoiding agonizing withdrawal with possibility of seizures and death, its nothing to play around with.

 

[chitown rollin]

Yea you'd say leave it alone cause you're on xanax. That shit makes you not give a fuck about ANYTHING important... idiot. You have to wait until your friend is sober to explain to him what he's doing to himself and his relationships with others. Its really hard when abusing benzos to see what you are doing to yourself and others. Explain to him how different he is on them and it will make him take a look at his use. I assume you're talking about Klonopin righT?

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

Talk to him.

Benzo addiction only gets worse from where your friend is right now.

 

[Warped Reality]

Talk to him.

Benzo addiction only gets worse from where your friend is right now.

Yeah... But it's weird because for some reason, he likes the fact that he's hooked on them. He finds it funny that he's changed... He was asking us (and laughing about it) if he'd changed, and he was saying that we all need to start doing them because they're bomb (and really cheap)

 

[purple_cloud]

I'm not sure exactly how he's getting his hands on so many to use daily without at least an additional prescription, but benzo addiction is a bitch, I'm dealing with it myself right now...I know kids just like your friend though, and honestly, even sober, I've explained, I've mentioned Bluelight, I've explained that they shouldn't be snorting benzos, etc. and usually they aren't going to listen --- most of them end up crashing eventually. I use them as medically directed but it still sucks knowing that you are literally risking having a seizure if you don't have any available and are taking significant doses. After 2 months, I'm not sure what level of physical dependency has developed, but it's one of those things you don't realize you start to need until you try to go without. Ah, gotta love the benzos 8)

 

[ColombianDopeHead]

Talk to him when he's sober but you can't force someone to change and get help. He's only gonna get help when he's ready you can't force anyone to do that. When he is ready to change he will seek help.

 

[realxsalo]

show him this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDbPnAQ-c1o

 

[mcgrCONTIN]

Clonazepam is a very weak benzodiazepine, so unless your friend has been taking like 3-10 at a time for a VERY long time, his addiction may not be that bad and his WD's may not be that bad either.

depending on the strength of his pills, ten clonazepam pills of a typical dosage could only total 5mg or so, which is less potent than five milligrams of xanax.

Just tell him to be careful because of how dangerous withdrawal from benzos are. While opiate WD's are not life threatening, benzo WD's certainly can be. Straight up, he could have a seizure and die.

In terms of intensity of withdrawal, and i know it depends on dosages of both opiates and benzos, which do you think are more agonizing/uncomfortable?

 

[Warped Reality]

Clonazepam is a very weak benzodiazepine, so unless your friend has been taking like 3-10 at a time for a VERY long time, his addiction may not be that bad and his WD's may not be that bad either.

depending on the strength of his pills, ten clonazepam pills of a typical dosage could only total 5mg or so, which is less potent than five milligrams of xanax.

Just tell him to be careful because of how dangerous withdrawal from benzos are. While opiate WD's are not life threatening, benzo WD's certainly can be. Straight up, he could have a seizure and die.

In terms of intensity of withdrawal, and i know it depends on dosages of both opiates and benzos, which do you think are more agonizing/uncomfortable?

he now takes about 12-13 at once :s

 

[yb62338]

He's seriously hooked on them now. I've never seen someone so crazy over these things... He does them every day. He's been doing them EVERY day for about two months now, taking from 3-10 pills at once.

I can tell he's addicted because when he's not on them, he's fidgety, always talking about them, pissed off, feeling sick, and he just looks "out of it", and he won't stop blabbering on about how he wants more.

He's started stealing from his friends, selling everything he has, stealing cars, drug dealing, etc, just to get his hands on some more of these pills...

I try to tell him how dangerous they are and he doesn't listen. Honestly he would probably beat the shit out of me if I told him that he's fucking himself over. I want to give him the facts but I don't think he'll listen...

If you had a friend in this situation, what would you do?

Talk to him and tell him how his addiction is damaging his life and relationships. At this point, he'll probably ignore you or not take it seriously.

You should also point out that benzos are some of the most dangerous chemicals to become physically dependent on, as withdrawals have been known to cause grand mal seizures in otherwise healthy adults and, in some rare cases, death.

Explain to him that benzos increase the activity of the neurotransimitter GABA in a manner similar to alcohol. Therefore, people who abuse benzos suffer similar side effects as those who abuse alcohol; often severe inhibition and amnesia. While I will admit that it's a good time to party hard black out once in a blue moon, I imagine not being able to remember weeks at a time must start to really suck.

He also should not be driving. While driving on any substance is dangerous, benzos impair judgement and coordination in a manner very similar to alcohol. Therefore, he is endangering others and his own life every time he gets behind the wheel.

I don't know how many mg's each klonopin is, but if they are at least 1 mg, 12-13 mgs daily is definitely enough to cause some very serious withdrawal symptoms. Tell him that if he doesn't stop, and is forced to quit when is supply is cut, he may be in some really hot water. keep trying to get him to taper down and come off!

Ultimately, it will be his decision. No matter how much you might care for his well-being, you can not make his decisions for him.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I think eventually he'll learn himself the hard way why he shouldn't be doing what he is.

I also think that maybe he's perfectly content with what he's doing, if so, you can't do anything to stop him.

If you do the research on benzodiazepine withdrawal, and show him/educate him as much as possible, this is all you can do.

You can also have a look into The Dark Side to talk to other people who have had issues with benzodiazepines, or so you can read about them/see what their progression through the addiction/recovery was like.

I'll go ahead and close this as this isn't the best topic for Other Drugs, as threads about quitting and recovery best belong in Other Drugs.

Go ahead and PM me if you have any other questions. If you do, I would begin by looking through the three links in brackets in my signature, they will tell you a lot about what the scope/objective of Other Drugs actually is.

 

[SaosinEngaged]

I think I can make a solid contribution here:

I'm getting degrees in Psychology as we speak with a focus aimed at breaking into counseling.

You cannot force people to seek help. Nor can you effectively tell people to get help. Both of these actions generally sets the person off, into a state of rage and lies, usually resolving nothing.

Generally an addict (ironic, because I'm addicted to Oxy, but it's a light habit without life altering consequences) must experience rock bottom before they have a realization they need to get help or get sober. This realization may not ever occur; every individual is different.

If you're going to try and talk to him, doing it alone won't do any good as I've mentioned above. You'll either be met with rage or lies, usually both.

An intervention, or point black denial of acceptance of his addiction is usually the only thing that can have beneficial results, but this requires a support group around the individual. I'm not sure if you know his family, or if they're aware of his addiction, but it's a whole other can of worms playing with the idea of going to his family with it.

You can talk to him, but I'm almost positive no good will come of it. I dealt with a terrible addict in my best friend, who I had talked with many, many times over the years about his addiction. It did nothing. It ended our friendship, as he chose his addiction over our friendship.

You know how he got clean? He hit rock bottom. He dropped out of school, his family disowned him, his fiance left him, etc. One day he realized his life was in ruins, and that sparked the internal desire for him to get better. Usually without this, it's difficult to overcome addiction completely as a large part of it is willpower.