Testing Strategies and the Emergence of Designer Benzodiazepines

Designer benzodiazepines (DBZDs) are designer drugs that have been on the rise since the late 2000s. As designer drugs, their rise and shift in popularity over time has followed changes surrounding restrictions or laws around their production, sale, and distribution. The unique toxicology profiles of these drugs and the clandestine-nature in their distribution has been shown to lead to hazardous outcomes. As DBZDs have similar structures to prescribed benzodiazepines, immunoassay-based screens are not likely to discriminate between the 2. Therefore, mass spectrometry-based methods are necessary for identification and discrimination. This review will discuss the current state-of-the-field for DBZD analysis.