title: Detection of benzodiazepine abuse in opiate addicts.
abstract: There is an increasing problem with benzodiazepine co-abuse in the opiate dependent population of Dublin. The importance of early detection of this co-abuse is essential as there is an increased risk of dangerous injecting practices such as sharing of needles and criminality in those who co-abuse benzodiazepines and opiates. This study was carried out in the National Drug Treatment Centre, Dublin. It aims to describe the current difficulties in identifying the co-abuse of short acting benzodiazepines including flunitrazepam in a cohort of opiate dependent patients. Using a sample of those attending the clinic it was discovered that standard methods of urinalysis failed to identify 10% of co-abuse. For those patients whose abuse of flunitrazepam is undetected on screening, clinical interventions which aim to minimise the consequence of the co-abuse and reverse the chaotic drug using patterns fail to be put in place at the earliest possible time.
authors.affiliation: Drug Treatment Centre Board, Dublin.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Browne
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sloan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fahy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keating
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000652:urine*; D017004:Codependency, Psychological; D003625:Data Collection; D017248:Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Technique; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000652:urine; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D016482:Urinalysis
chemical_list: D001569:Benzodiazepines