Survey of use of injected benzodiazepines among drug users in Britain

Intravenous misuse of injected benzodiazepines began in Britain in the mid-1980s. At first the drugs commonly used were flurazepam and diazepam, but by the late 1980s, when the use of injected benzodiazepines had become widespread in several British cities, users were reported to be injecting mainly temazepam capsules.1 In 1989 the manufacturers replaced liquid filled temazepam capsules with semisolid gel filled capsules2 to prevent the drug from being injected. These capsules, however, are also being injected3 and seem to lead to greater morbidity in individual users. Recently the use of triazolam4 and nitrazepam has also been reported. We carried out a survey to determine the extent to which different formulations …