Posted by yxibow on February 21, 2007, at 9:24:35
In reply to Re: why are benzodiazpines abused? like opiates... » yxibow, posted by Chairman_MAO on February 21, 2007, at 5:08:30
> It is _impossible_ to achieve clinically significant respiratory depression with benzodiazepines alone.
It's not impossible, just somewhat implausible with normal to medium high amounts. I was referring to whole jars of substances. I'm not going to say how much Valium you'd have to take for obvious reasons but thats what I meant by self-limiting in a sense. There is always an LD50 for any substance. You can be comatose on benzodiazepines. I'm well aware of the difference between the LD50 of barbiturates and benzodiazepines.
> This is the main reason why barbiturates are considered "obsolete" for most applications today.
>
> Benzodiazepine dependence/withdrawal can actually be worse than the barbiturates. Seizures have been reported up to two weeks after cessation of alprazolam; this does not happen, AFAIK, with the barbiturates.
>
> Methamphetamine is a pharmaceutical drug, and has a higher therapeutic index than d-amphetamine.
>
> Diazepam, AFAIK, is more lipophilic than alprazolam; I may be wrong about this but I believe that sublingual diazepam would kick in faster than subligual alprazolam.
>
> Midazolam is in the same chemical class as alprazolam and triazolam, FWIW. The difference is more political than anything else, IMHO.
poster:yxibow
thread:734714
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070219/msgs/734793.html