Understanding the lethal interactions between benzodiazepines and opioids

The number of people dying because of drugs is rising in the UK, especially in Scotland. Many of these deaths involve a combination of opioids (heroin, methadone or buprenorphine) and benzodiazepines (benzos) or z-drugs (sedatives often used to treat anxiety and insomnia), either prescribed or obtained illegally.

We set out to understand how benzos or z-drugs and opioids work together and why this makes a fatal overdose more likely.