Opium in its many forms is readily available across America, from the dirt cheap to the most costly pure form. While that availability has led to an alarming increase in opioid-related deaths, another form of tranquility-inducing drug is also claiming more lives than ever.
Prescription drugs developed to reduce anxiety (primarily benzodiazepine prescriptions) have proliferated since 1996, a study led by a team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found. The study examined data from 1996 to 2013.
Prescriptions written for such drugs as Valium and Xanax have steadily increased, from 4.1 percent of U.S. adults to 5.6 percent in 2013. With the prescription increase, deaths from overdoses of those drugs also rose alarmingly, from .58 per 100,000 adults in 1996 to more than three per 100,000 today.
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In raw numbers, anxiety drug overdoses claimed the lives of nearly 7,000 Americans in 2013—about 30 percent of all prescription drug ODs. Opioids were responsible for the rest.
"Benzodiazepine prescriptions and overdose mortality have increased considerably. Fatal overdoses involving benzodiazepines have plateaued overall; however, no evidence of decreases was found in any group," the researchers concluded. "Interventions to reduce the use of benzodiazepines or improve their safety are needed."
The study's primary author, Dr. Marcus Bachhuber of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said more attention needs to be focused on non-opioid drug prescription and abuse. "We need to think more broadly about other drugs, like benzodiazepines," he said.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
