Treatment for ‘benzos’ addiction soars

The number of people seeking treatment for addiction to benzodiazepines has more than doubled since 2009, according to figures released by the Health Service Executive.

The increase in use of the psychoactive drug, which has been implicated in hundreds of deaths in recent years, has been described as a cause for alarm by an addiction services expert.

The most recent statistics show that benzodiazepines were the main problem drug of 547 people who sought treatment for substance abuse in 2012, compared to 261 in 2009.