The Authors’ Own Words: Increasing availability of benzodiazepines among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Increasing availability of benzodiazepines among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting

Geoffrey Walton, MD; Huiru Dong, MSc; M. J. Milloy, PhD; Kora DeBeck, PhD; Thomas Kerr, PhD; Evan Wood, MD, PhD; & Kanna Hayashi, PhD

Substance Abuse Vol. 39, Iss. 1, 2018

“Among our large community-recruited sample of people who inject drugs in Vancouver, benzodiazepine availability has significantly increased between 2012 and 2015. We also found that incarceration, and engagement in methadone maintenance therapy were independently associated with more immediate access to benzodiazepines. These findings highlight the need to educate physicians and patients regarding the harms of benzodiazepine use in the groups identified and suggest that further research is needed to investigate the reasons behind these associations including where people who inject drugs are securing their benzodiazepines.”