Hi guys next one in the series of Illegal drugs and teens I have been writing is benzodiazepines...These are depressant drugs....These drugs are known as minor tranquilisers...They are prescribed by a doctor for helping with stress, sleeping problems and anxiety...Unfortunately these drugs are often used wrongly and people use them to become intoxicated...Like other depressants these slow down the central nervous system and slow down the messages to the brain...these drugs used on a short term basis can help with relaxationanxiety and sleep...They do not SOLVE any problems but so when the effect of the drug is gone so to is the feelings it helps to mask...

Benzodiazepines come in mainly tablets or capsules...They are prescribed drugs so they usually have their name and milligrams printed on the side...These drugs are mainly used to help with other drug addictions...usually a heroin addict who can't get heroin or maybe an ecstasy user or speed user who is coming down off a high...These are not the only ways this drug can be abused or just by these people...Teenagers are known to use these too jsut to be calm...Or to help them forget something in their difficult teenage life...

This drug is lnow my their chemical names and their brand names...They are exactly the same drug but are made by different companies...There are more than 24 different prescribed Benzodiazepines...Some of these include...

Diazepam             Valium, Ducene
Oxazepam            Alepam, Murelax, Serepax
Nitrazepam         Alodorm, Mogadon
Temazepam        Normison, Euhypnos, Temaze

Depending on how many the abuser takes and their build and age etc...Depends on the unwanted side effects of this drug...But here is some effects in lower doses...these include but are not limited to...mild impairment of thinking processes, memory and coordination, drowsiness, tiredness and lethargy, dizziness, vertigo, and blurred maybe even double vision...If higher doses are taken then these could be but are not limited to the following effects..The person could act like they are drunk almost,  confusion, slurred speech, bad coordination, impaired judgement, difficulty thinking clearly, loss of memory, blurred or double vision and dizziness. Mood swings or even aggressive outbursts can occur too.

People have also been known to binge on this form of drug..This is when a huge amount of these are taken and this is when the user should not even think about getting behind a wheel...When taken this way there is a huge chance of overdosing on this drug...

Worried yet?? Do you have any of these in your medicine cabinet??

These drugs also have long term effects from continual use...Skin rashes, weight gain, risk of accidents, muscle weakness, problems in the bedrooms, lack of motivation even a change in personality then finally maybe even depression... Some users have also been known to inject  benzodiazepines...Along with this also comes the whole risk of hiv and hepatitis but collapsed veins, stroke, damge to vital organs maybe even death....

Even though benzodiazepines are not an illegal drug once they are being used in a abusive way they do become illegal...This is just another article to maybe provoke some thought in your mind about more posibilities of a danger to our kids...I do not think I can say it enough you know COMMUNICATION is the key and one of our most useful tools...make the realtionship with your kids so that they can talk to you about anything without a bad reaction...This is all we can do to help our kids to make the right choices and tell us if they haven't (hopefully)...

Have a great day
Cheers
Angie