Katharina Buczek
A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report is sounding the alarm about a new type of “designer Xanax” linked to an increasing number of hospital admissions and deaths.
The drug is called bromazolam, an unauthorized benzodiazepine sedative, and has caused serious health issues such as hyperthermia, heart damage, seizures, comas, and extended ICU stays.
Known by other street names, including “dope” or “fake Xanax,” bromazolam is among at least twelve such unapproved “designer benzodiazepines.”
These lab-created drugs, intended to treat anxiety, are more potent than their legally sanctioned counterparts.
The CDC released its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), which highlighted three cases involving “previously healthy young adults,” including two men aged 25 and one woman, who is 20.
These three individuals mistakenly consumed bromazolam, believing that it was actually alprazolam– or Xanax.
In February of last year, all three of them were discovered unconscious after ingesting the misidentified substance.
Efforts to revive them with an opioid reversal agent were also unsuccessful, and upon reaching the emergency department, they remained unresponsive.
The group of three all suffered from several generalized seizures and required intubation in the ICU in order to assist with breathing. They also developed fevers and exhibited symptoms of heart damage.
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