VIENNA, Austria – September 2017: The Global SMART Update (Volume 18, September 2017) “Non-medical use of benzodiazepines: a growing threat to public health?” focusses on the concomitant use of benzodiazepines and opioids which has been linked to a number of deaths that occurred in the recent opioid crisis. While both, opioids and benzodiazepines, are widely used to treat various medical conditions, their concomitant, non-medical use poses severe health risks. This situation has been further exacerbated by the ready availability of counterfeited benzodiazepines and the increasing emergence of “designer benzodiazepines”, a common street name for new psychoactive substances (NPS) belonging to the benzodiazepine class.

For more information, please see:

Global SMART Update Volume 18 “Non-medical use of benzodiazepines: a growing threat to public health?” – https://www.unodc.org/documents/scientific/Global_SMART_Update_2017_Vol_18.pdf

Global SMART Update Volume 17 “Fentanyl and its analogues - 50 years on” – http://www.unodc.org/documents/scientific/Global_SMART_Update_17_web.pdf

UNODC News Clip “August 2017 – England and Wales: Deaths related to NPS and benzodiazepines continue to rise” – https://www.unodc.org/LSS/Announcement/Details/01444473-5279-4108-89ea-1d762136fc99

UNODC News Clip “August 2017 – Scotland: Benzodiazepines account for the majority of NPS related deaths in Scotland in 2016” – https://www.unodc.org/LSS/Announcement/Details/83b73f21-a5a9-4ffb-b1c6-61edc0f711ed

UNODC News Clip “July 2017 – Ireland: Deaths related to benzodiazepines constitute the largest number of drug-related deaths after opiates” – https://www.unodc.org/LSS/Announcement/Details/382869b1-6537-4a62-b8a8-a929f50540b2

UNODC News Clip “April 2017 – UNODC: Several countries place benzodiazepine derivatives under national control” – https://www.unodc.org/LSS/Announcement/Details/065118d5-b238-48d8-9d7f-b95fb5d11411