Reducing risks from intravenous cannulae.

CommentAddiction to benzodiazepines has been denied in some quarters on the basis that reported case histories do not fulfil the criteria of drug dependence.2This case illustrates dramatically the four main features of dependence-namely, use of a drug to achieve its psychic effects, increase of dosage with time to achieve the same effects, experience of withdrawal symptoms on stopping the drug or reducing the dose, and abolition of withdrawal symptoms when the drug is reinstated.Short-acting benzodiazepine hypnotics may have some advantage as regards hangover3 but they share the addiction potential of all benzodiazepines.