BARBITURATES

BENZODIAZAPINES

Lone-acting barbiturates include phenobarbital (Luminal) and mephobarbital (Mebaral). Effects of these drugs are realized in about one hour land last for about 12 hours and are use primarily for daytime sedation and the treatment of seizure disorders or mild anxiety. The primary differences among many of these products are how fast they produce an effect and how long those effects last. Barbiturates are classified as ultra short, short, intermediate and long-acting.

The ultra short-acting barbiturates produce anesthesia within about one minute after intravenous administration. Those in current medical use are methohexital (Brevital), thiamylal (Surital) and thiopental (Pentothal).

Barbiturate abusers prefer the short-acting and intermediate-acting barbiturates pentobarbital (Nembutal), secobarbital (Seconal) and amobarbital (Amytal). Other short-and intermediate-acting barbiturates are butalbital (Fiorinal, Fioricet), butabarbital (Butisol), talbutal (Lotusate) and aprobarbital (Alurate). After oral administration, the onset of action is from 15 to 40 minutes and the effects last up to 6 hours. These drugs are primarily used for sedation or to induce sleep. Veterinarians use pentobarbital for anesthesia and euthanasia.

During the seventies, the 'barb freak' was probably the most regular punter at street drugs agencies like Lifeline. This was because they tended to be those drug users who were least able to take care of themselves. Even the most desperate bagheads look down upon barb freaks because of the mess that they invariably get themselves into.

Barbiturates are a sedative drug. Normally prescribed to induce sleep, their use is now almost completely discontinued for this purpose, though milder variants such as phenobarbitone may still be used to manage epilepsy. Nevertheless, Barbiturates occasionally turn up from time to time, usually as

Sodium Amytal - most frequently as a bright blue capsule that contains 60 mg of the drug.

Seconal - 50 mg orange capsules, and finally

Tuinal - which are a cocktail of 50 mg of Amytal and 50 mg of Seconal which, unsurprisingly perhaps, come in a capsule that is half Amytal blue, half Seconal orange. Whoever was responsible for the design of these capsules certainly had a flair for marketing substances to junkies and hypochondriacs.

The first thing to get clear about barbiturates is that these things are dangerous. I don't mean 'Heroin screws you up' dangerous, I mean seriously fucked-up style dangerous. Is that clear enough for you? During the seventies, around ? people died every year as a result of barbiturate poisoning. Many of those deaths were people who just took the drug to sleep.

The pattern usually went like this. Have a few scoops to help you get your head down. Then, drop a couple of nembies and pour yourself another drink while you wait for the drug to take effect. After a while, you don't remember whether you took the caps or not, so you'd better take a couple more to be on the safe side. They'd find your body in the morning. If you hadn't choked on your own vomit, your breathing had slowed down progressively until it stopped.

Like opiates, barbiturates are addictive, only more so. Taken to help you sleep, after a few days, it becomes impossible to sleep without them. Like the opiates, barbituates produce tolerance so that you need to keep upping the dose to get the same effect, but the real hum-dinger is the withdrawal syndrome. If withdrawal from opiates is cold turkey, then withdrawal from barbiturates could be cold raven. Besides the craving, discomfort and inability to sleep, barbiturate withdrawal also causes major epileptic seizures. Nobody dies from opiate withdrawal, but it is a strong possibility with barbiturates and you should only think about it under the supervision of a doctor, preferably as a hospital in-patient.

The possibility of overdose is amplified greatly if barbs are injected into a vein rather than taken orally. By and large, it is usually only those people who have had their switches set to automatic self-destruct mode who use barbiturates because the drug isn't at all pleasant or enjoyable. Barbs lack the euphoric content of opiates and the social lubricant properties associated with alcohol. They simply produce a dark, blank oblivion and as such will always remain popular with those people who hate themselves or their lives so much that their behaviour is governed by a compulsion to obliterate all possibility of thought and self-examination. Do yourself a favour. Just say no.

When it became clear that large numbers of people died each year simply as a result of trying to cure insomnia, the drug companies spent a vast amount of money in an attempt to discover a replacement for the barbiturates. Eventually, the pharmaceutical industry came up with the Benzodiazpines. Eureka! No side-effects, they said. Non-addictive, they said. Safe, they said. Unlikely to be misused, they said. Loads of money, they said. (Much more quietly, to stockholders, in boardrooms.)

Like opiates and snake oil before them, Benzodiazapines were marketed as being good for whatever ails you - the original mothers little helper. If you go to the doctor and tell him that you've lost your job, your wife had left you, your dog has died and your next door neighbour keeps giving you funny looks, the chances are, that he'll write you a prescription for benzodiazapines. Well, five or six years ago, he would. At the moment, doctors and the drug companies are being sued by thousands of people who allege that they have suffered from the side effects of benzodiazapines, so now they think twice about it. Then write the prescription.

They tend to be divided into two major types. Some are used as hypnotics or sedatives, drugs that are used to induce sleep in insomnia. Benzodiazapines in this category include

Nitrazepam - Nitrazepam are a long-acting benzodiazapine hypnotic. Before doctors were forced to prescribe the generic equivalent of a drug, Nitrazepam were possibly the most commonly used sleeper in the U.K. Sold as 'Mogadon', they were the sleeping tablet with the smiley face. In recent years, their popularity seems to have been massively outstripped by the shorter acting benzodiazapine hypnotics, the most popular being

Temazepam - Also known as eggs, jellies, temazzies, norries, rugby balls and a host of other pseudonyms, Temazepam seem to be the drug of choice for the treatment of insomnia. They have also replaced the barbiturates as the self-destructive drug user's intoxicant of choice. We will discuss this substance at some length a little later.

Other hypnotic benzodiazapines include Flunitrazepam, Flurazepam, Loprazelam and Triazolam. They all have similar effects. Triazolam (also known as Halcyon) have recently been taken off the market because of concern over the side effects. So much for safe!

The other major use for benzodiazapines is as anxiolytics - drugs that reduce the anxiety levels of the user. The most commonly used benzodiazapines of this type include

Diazepam - Also known by the trade name, Valium

Lorazepam - A short-acting anxiolytic, also known as Ativan

And a whole host of others with very similar effects, including Alprazolam (Xanax), Bromazepam, Chlordiazipoxide (Librium), Clobazam, Chlorazepate Dipotassium (Tranxene) Medazepam and Oxazepam.

Regardless of which particular benzodiazapine is being used, the side- effects seem to be much the same. Some experts feel that the shorter-acting benzodiazapines like Lorazepam (Ativan) are more addictive and more difficult to withdraw from than the longer-acting types such as Diazepam. For this reason, many doctors recommend substituting Diazepam in any detoxification programme.

All benzodiazapines depress the breathing and so if taken with opiates or alcohol, can result in death from respiratory failure. They should be used with caution by anybody who is pregnant or who may have suffered from hepatitis or any other kidney or liver problems.

Taken over a longer period, these drugs can make you crazy. Besides becoming addicted, you can become paranoid, agoraphobic (frightened of leaving the house) or develop obsessive/compulsive patterns of behaviour. Still, if it ever happens to you, at least you've got the consolation of suspecting that it's probably a result of the weird, mind-bending drugs that you've been taking. Imagine how it must feel to be a straight housewife, getting a terrible habit with all these wierd side effects, which you got from the medicine that your doctor gave you to help you cope with the depression that you felt when you found your husband was fucking his secretary. Just a little something to help you sleep, my dear. Oooo- eee-ooo!

At the moment though, the most popular benzodiazapine must be Temazepam. Temazepam use is on the increase among several different constituencies of drug user. Due to a lack of real MDMA on the club scene, amphetamines, LSD and other, longer-acting psychedelics like MDA currently dominate. As a result, many club-goers have taken to using the little green and yellow Rugby Balls in an attempt to get some sleep. Smoking a reefer is a much less hazardous method of chilling out, but if you must use benzodiazapines to get to sleep, then don't take more than one and don't use them regularly. Once a week is probably still too often.

Hard-core cocaine and rock users are also turning to Temazzies to soften the crash when the charlie or the rock is all gone. The same messages apply here. Using weed or even alcohol is a much safer strategy, but if you must use them, then do make sure that you stick to occasional oral use. Your cocaine use is probably a problem already - try not to make it worse by getting another habit.

The final group who are using Temazepam are injectors who probably prefer heroin, but use Temazzies because they can't afford to score, or because their tolerance is such that supplementing their script with Temazepam is the only way they can work up a good gouch from their methadone. If this description applies to you, then you are probably at enormous risk from the impact of Temazepam on your life, your health and your social status. Even the worst smackheads look down on a Temazzie user.

Benzo's reduce inhibitions, making some people aggressive, but the lack of co-ordination that the drug produces means that you are more likely to get a pasting. Some people feel that the Dutch courage that benzodiazapines produce is actually a cloak of invisibility, even invulnerability. They might go out shoplifting, believing that nobody will be able to see their subtle moves as they swiftly teleport the goods into their stash. In actual fact, the store detectives are thinking, 'If this shop thinks that they pay me enough to apprehend that dirty, stinking AIDS victim, they've got another think coming. Phone for the man with the big net and the tranquillizer gun.'

Due to the way that the benzodiazapines reduce inhibitions, some people view downers as an aphrodisiac. (Remember 'Mandies make you randy!') In fact, this is a myth that is perpetuated by rapists. (ñErr, they were a good hit them Temazzies, but they haven't half given me a sore arse!î) Using any downer decreases your self control. Given the role that sex plays in the transmission of the HIV virus, everybody needs to maximize the amount of control that they exercise whenever there is the possibility of sexual contact - downers and fucking just do not mix.

The same is true of injecting. Like the barbiturates before them, Temazepam have become popular among certain sections of injecting drug users. However, the risks associated with this drug are far greater than the risks associated with heroin. As with sex, the drug minimizes the control that you have over your injecting behaviour. This may lead you to forget which syringe belongs to who. Have you cleaned it out? You may even forget all about the need to stay safe and not share other people's works. You probably couldn't care less - drugs like Temazepam make you feel invulnerable while you are under the influence.

Temazepam also creates other risks for injectors. In order to stop people injecting the eggs, the drug company filled them with a solid gel in an attempt to prevent the drug from passing through the needle. People got around this by warming the gel and diluting it with water. However, now when it hits the vein, it resolidifies, causing thrombosis. This can lead to Deep Vein Thrombosis, serious abscesses and ulcers. Should you miss the vein and inject into an artery, you will probably develop gangrene, which often results in the loss of a limb. Injecting temazepam, or any other tablet or capsule come to that, is not a good idea at all.