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Harm Reduction Can benzos make cocaine (or other stimulants) safer?

Vastness

Vastness

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Not sure if this would be better suited for NPD, mods, my apologies and please move if so.

What I want to know is, physiologically, is there any additional harm or danger of combining cocaine (or other stimulants) with benzodiazepines? Could this combination even be SAFER than a stimulant alone?


I am NOT interested in hearing about any personal opinions on the subjective effects of this combination - my question is purely from a physiological/health/harm-reduction perspective.

I have searched fairly extensively on the internet for an answer to this question, but all I see is people spouting the same old "it's bad to combine a stimulant and a depressant!" ...I am well aware that this is often the case, but in this specific scenario, WHY is it harmful?

If anything, it seems to me, it should be harm reducing - my reasoning is that the common benzodiazepines all have a much longer half-life and duration of action than most commonly used stimulants, as well as having a very low overdose potential when not combined with other CNS depressants. Therefore, there is very little risk of the benzo wearing off before the stimulant (which, typically, would be a much more dangerous scenario). Additionally, much of the acute danger from stimulant use (correct me if I'm wrong) comes from cardiovascular strain, which, surely, benzodiazepines would counteract, at least to a degree.

Alcohol and cocaine is a commonly used but very harmful combination - it seems to me that benzodiazepines and cocaine would be a far, far safer version of this, given the absence of any direct interaction between the 2 substances. Unless I am mistaken, benzos are often used in cocaine overdose cases... is there something I'm missing here, or should benzodiazepines actually be a healthy and definitely harm reducing drug to administer with stimulants? If not, why not?
 
I don't think its good for you by any means to combine the two, but I do it everytime I use coke! no matter what! If I don't have any of my script of klonopin, then I will not do coke! I wont do coke, without benzos, because its simply not fun by itself to me! coke on its own, with nothing to bring you down, is horrible imo.. I just get way too edgy, angry, paranoid, and keep repeating it over and over with each hit I take or bump I do, or whatever, no matter the ROA I smoke it, shoot it, and sometimes sniff it, just to test before shooting it.. The only time this has ever caused a problem mixing the two, benzo and cocaine, is when I also mixed oxycodone in with it, and a lot of oxy and coke too! I almost died one night, but I know it had a lot to do with having all 3 of those mixed together in stupid high doses, so I didn't blame it on the kpin, but oxy and coke... that is very dangerous, opiates of any kind mixed with coke, is super dangerous, more than benzos and coke.. but all 3 that's like playing with dynamite!
 
I'm pretty sure that benzodiazepines do not cancel the cardiotoxic effects of cocaine abuse. So no.

Benzodiazepines are just parachutes for when you're crashing from doing yay-o all night
 
I'm going to respectfully disagree with the posters above me who say that it's especially bad to combine the two. Benzodiazepines can indeed counteract some of cardiovascular issues associated with cocaine abuse.

Now, if you were to take way more cocaine than usual because you're simultaneously sedated by a benzodiazepine, you could get yourself into trouble. However, if youre only using the benzo to take the edge off your normal dose or to treat some acute symptoms, it would most certainly be physiologically beneficial.

That said, you definitely want to go to the ER in the case of an overdose or cardiac event. Benzos are not a cure-all for treating cardiovascular issues from cocaine use. However, they can be beneficial if properly used together.

Here's a paper that talks about some of the cardiotoxic effects of cocaine and how they're clinically treated. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2856045/
 
I disagree regarding the dangers of the combination as well. I'm with Slow on this one all the way. I feel that people get so accustomed to hearing about how bad Benzodiazepines are, even though their danger primarily lies in combination with other depressants, that they assume that their usage must be dangerous regardless of situation. Benzodiazepines have a very wide therapeutic index, again, if not combined with other depressants. If we take lethal overdose and chronic tolerance/dependence/withdrawal issues off the table, Benzodiazepines are highly-effective and safe drugs with a wide range of appropriate uses.

Stimulants, but Cocaine especially, cause a great amount of strain on the cardiovascular system. In fact, it's perfectly reasonable and is fully indicated for stimulant-intoxicated patients to be medicated with Benzodiazepines in a hospital setting. It happens all the time and is considered to actually be therapeutic, especially when taking into account that the person is essentially in a dangerous state of cardiovascular stress.

Do they solve all of the issues involved with Cocaine use, of course not, but I'd like to see some actual evidence purporting that the combination of Benzodiazepines with Cocaine is dangerous before we start touting it as a fact. I really mean no offense, but "It stresses out your organs" sounds a lot like an overly general and probably inaccurate statement.
 
^ I don't think that they necessarily make drug use more dangerous when they're combined with stimulants like cocaine, and definitely not to the extent of, say, the drug synergy of tranquilizers with opiates and/or alcohol.

But the thread title asked if they make cocaine use safer, a.k.a. do they mitigate the risks that cocaine use may pose to a person's physiology, and on that point I'm skeptical...
 
Burnt Offerings said:
^ I don't think that they necessarily make drug use more dangerous when they're combined with stimulants like cocaine, and definitely not to the extent of, say, the drug synergy of tranquilizers with opiates and/or alcohol.

But the thread title asked if they make cocaine use safer, a.k.a. do they mitigate the risks that cocaine use may pose to a person's physiology, and on that point I'm skeptical...
Click to expand...

Co-administration can mitigate the risks posed to a person's physiology. Benzos are a common go-to med for stimulant overdose like keif mentioned.

If your skeptical, I would encourage you to browse the paper I attached. They explicitly recommend using benzodiazepines to treat several cocaine-induced cardiovascular issues
 
That's in response to an acute overdose...do they successfully mitigate the effects of regularly administering a powerful CNS stimulant like cocaine to the user's heartbox, though? Regular cocaine use involves a lot of cardiovascular stress
 
It would certainly reduce cardiovascular stress, but it won't make cocaine safe to use on a regular basis. It will work equally well as a preventative for the acute symptoms it treats.

OPs question was about using benzos to treat acute cardiovascular issues associated with cocaine use, and it has some benefits for this purpose.

Also want to add that any acute, adverse health issue associated with drug abuse is usually considered an overdose even if you took the same or less than your normal amount. It's clinically overused to the point that it pretty much encompasses all drug associated ER visits.
 
I do all the time! and the only time I ever encountered a problem, was when I did way to much coke/crack as well as klonopin and over 300mg of oxy.. The oxy and crack/coke, is what primarily caused me to OD... The klonopin being mixed with those 2, was just too much.. and I passed out, woke up in a fog, like 10 mins later, after my friend tried giving me CPR and chest compressions, then threw cold, ice water on me in my bath tub! Very scary indeed..

However, I have taken stupid high doses of cocaine and benzos of all kinds, usually klonopin, valium, or Xanax... and been totally fine, balanced out, not being all tweaky and paranoid, borderline psychotic from the cocaine, yet still getting a very euphoric nice, stimulated high from cocaine, the combination is very good feeling IME.. yet, I wouldn't say its SAFER, although, I think in correct moderation of dosing, it wouldn't prove to be harmful to most people.. but like you said Keif', its not possible to know if it is "good" to take them, just stating my experience and opinion on many times of mixing, stupid, dangerous to most people, very high amounts of both together, which I no longer do... but still, I cant have coke, without benzos.. I go insane!
 
This is almost off topic but I use to know this lady that would trade crack for benzos. I miss that lady
 
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