Benzodiazepines—the unacknowledged drug crisis

Much public attention has been given to Oxycontin, while Benzodiazepines are seldom spoken of with any alarm. Yet I would estimate that 60-80% of my own clients have been addicted to this widely-prescibed drug. So it bears discussion here.

Benzodiazepines were invented by Leo Sternbach, a Polish-American chemist working at Hoffmann-La Roche. He discovered the first one, chlordiazepoxide (Librium), in 1956, which was approved in 1960. Its improved version, Valium (diazepam), was released in 1963 and became phenomenally popular between 1969 and 1982, it was the most prescribed drug in America, with over 2.3 billion doses sold in its peak year of 1978. Medical professionals greeted benzos enthusiastically, skyrocketing their popularity and patient demand. By the 1980s, clinicians' earlier enthusiasm had created a new concern: the specter of abuse and dependence. The warning signs of benzodiazephine dependence are still being ignored. The medical establishment had roughly 30 years of mass prescribing before the addiction crisis was formally acknowledged (a timeline that draws uncomfortable parallels to the Oxycontin crisis). Physicians have now had over four decades of clear evidence, yet the prescribing has continued largely unabated. That is not the trajectory of a medical profession taking a known harm seriously. Their patients suffer in silence, behind closed doors, under their paternalistic willful blindness, sustained by institutional gaslighting of the very patients it claims to protect.

Much public attention has been given to Oxycontin, while Benzodiazepines are seldom spoken of with any alarm. So it bears discussion here.

Benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms include sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, hand tremor, sweating, confusion, memory problems, nausea, muscle pain and stiffness, seizures, and suicidal ideation. Mental function disturbances can persist for a very long time after stopping. A protracted abstinence syndrome, including prolonged anxiety, depression, and insomnia lasting for many months, even years after long, slow, careful tapering, has been observed by addiction specialists.

The benzodiazepine crisis has not received the same cultural reckoning as the opioid crisis, despite its enormous scale. The suffering of long-term users trying to taper off is real, medically documented, and frequently underestimated even by prescribing physicians. The people most affected tend to be prescribed patients, rather than recreational users—often they are women, often elderly, which may partly explain why the story hasn't gotten the same attention, since these people tend to suffer in silience. If you or someone you know is dealing with benzodiazepine dependence, gradual tapering under medical supervision is essential. Stopping abruptly can be dangerous, causing seizure, acute anxiety, and even psychosis. Benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms include sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, hand tremor, sweating, confusion, memory problems, nausea, muscle pain and stiffness, seizures, and suicidal ideation. Mental function disturbances can persist for a very long time after stopping. Stopping abruptly can be dangerous, causing seizure, acute anxiety, and even psychosis.