benzodiazepine

Deaths involving benzodiazepines - including prescribed diazepam and counterfeit tablets such as 'street Valium' - rose rapidly over the last decade and were a major factor in the drug deaths crisis.

He said because both benzodiazepines and nitazenes were depressants, “their combined effect increases the risk of overdose significantly”.

The report also confirms psychoactive substances such as benzodiazepines are posing significant dangers.

Nitazines, often mixed into heroin, are now being cut with benzodiazepines too.

Other Schedule IV drugs include the opioid tramadol and a group of depressants known as benzodiazepines.