Etizolam and gabapentinoids, central nervous system drugs with sedative effects and high potential for abuse, may be both driving a culture of polydrug use and contributing to an increasing pattern of drug-related deaths in Scotland, according to a new study published October 9, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by a team of researchers at the University of the West of Scotland, U.K., and colleagues.
In recent years, Scotland has been experiencing a disproportionally high number of drug-related deaths compared to other European countries, with the Scottish Parliament unanimously voting the issue to be a public health emergency in 2021. One distinct feature of the recent rise in drug-related deaths is the increase in polydrug use and in "designer" benzodiazepines and gabapentinoids, substances designed to mimic the effects of traditional medications. In the new study, researchers analyzed 18 previously-published studies that included data on the role of etizolam (one designer benzodiazepine) and gabapentinoids among drug-related deaths in Scotland as well as data on the drugs' use and abuse.
Although both drugs are unlikely to cause death on their own, they can cause adverse reactions when being used alongside each other or other opioids. The study found that both drugs are increasingly cited as contributing factors to drug-related deaths. Gabapentinoid-related deaths in Scotland, for instance, increased from two to 367 deaths between 2008 to 2018, accounting for almos.