ArticleDrug and alcohol review2025
Changes over time in novel benzodiazepines contributing to fatal overdoses in Victoria, Australia.
Article in Drug and alcohol review, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Complementary insights from wastewater surveillance and the toxicology findings of clinical presentations involving new psychoactive substances in Australia.Journal of analytical toxicology · 2026Article
- The Emergence of Novel Benzodiazepines in Australia, Evidence, Alerts, Clinical Management and Harm Reduction-A Narrative Review.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Review
- Changes over time in novel benzodiazepines contributing to fatal overdoses in Victoria, Australia.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionNovel benzodiazepines (NBZN) have increased in availability and use since the mid-2000s, with a corresponding rise in associated harms including deaths.
methodsThe study used data from the Victorian Overdose Deaths Register to explore which specific NBZNs and combinations of NBZNs contributed over time to Victorian overdose deaths between January 2009 and December 2023.
resultsThere were 140 NBZN-involved overdose deaths in Victoria, with an observable increase in deaths from 2019 onward. Eight main groupings of deaths in time were identified, based on contributing NBZNs. Key groupings included etizolam-related deaths between 2019 and 2021, followed by flualprazolam and clonazolam deaths, and later, bromazolam and clobromazolam combinations in 2022-2023. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionsThese findings reflect the transiency of NBZNs in Victoria's unregulated drug market and highlight the importance of certain harm reduction measures in addressing increasing NBZN use. These include public education around the risks of using benzodiazepines not dispensed from pharmacies and the use of drug checking services to assist people obtaining benzodiazepines from unregulated drug markets.
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