You have to be careful with benzo's, that's for sure.
These days, I can handle them responsibly, needing them (either temazepam or alprazolam) only a couple of nights a week at small doses.
Many years ago, this was not the case, however. At age 16, I began by taking temazepam, which quickly accelerated into a major addiction (like 10 tabs just to get to sleep). A GP swapped me to diazepam as a way of weaning me off. Needless to say, I was soon having six of those babies a night just to get to sleep.
By the age of 20, I had to visit a psych, who decided to put me on flunitrazepam to get an equal effect at a smaller dose (he also diagnosed me with HPD). Well, all hell broke loose. I started shoplifting like it was a sport, dropping the Rohy's in the daytime and stripping for a living (even though I had a tertiary qualification under my belt and all) - a complete personality change to say the least.
It was majorly hard-going - I could drop six Rohy's (12 to sleep), drink copious amounts of alcohol and think I was acting normal (I was also using a lot of acid and speed around this time). My boyfriend at the time wanted me to stop badly, so just made me go cold turkey while plying me with cask wine to calm my nerves throughout the whole three-day event. Anyhow, while I don't remember much of it, apparently I did a lot of trembling, crying and wailing on my bed. I could have started fitting etc but, luckily, I didn't and came out much better for it.
I never mention my previous addiction to doctors any more, and it's far enough behind me for them not to know. What I have learned is to have respect for benzo's. Otherwise, apart from ruining your life, you're not going to be prescribed them at all.