Some of the media outlets we have assisted…
OUR IMPACT
Programs & Projects
We seek to break the stigma and raise awareness around prescribed benzodiazepine injury, provide a voice to the patients who are suffering, and facilitate research and access to competent, evidence-based medical care for those impacted by benzodiazepine induced disability.
Some of our Speaking & Events
Our Programs
Ashton Manual Distribution Program
We adapted the Ashton Manual, one of the most important documents in the benzodiazepine literature, into several easy-to-share formats including on our website, PDF, Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. We share the manual worldwide for free. Through our efforts, the Ashton Manual is ranked the number one best seller in both pharmacology and medication drug guides on Amazon. Get your own copy here.
Benzodiazepine Action Work Group Colorado
We partnered with the Colorado Consortium to form the Benzodiazepine Action Work Group. Through this group, we develop programs and further awareness in the state of Colorado.
Benzodiazepine Blog
We maintain a blog filled with original educational content. With millions of hits, we’ve provided valuable information to patients, providers and the public alike. Our blog can be found here.
Benzodiazepine Aware Doctor’s List
As access to a provider knowledgable about safer tapering is a common challenge patients face, we maintain a list of medical providers worldwide that may be helpful to patients hoping to slowly taper off their prescribed benzodiazepine.
FDA Reporting Program
We collaborate with patient groups to ensure benzodiazepine harm is reported. Our program resulted in grabbing the FDA’s attention, and they ultimately issued a boxed warning in 2020 after doing their own inquiry. Learn more about the new warning here. We continue to encourage patients to report their harm. The instructions to file a report can be found here.
Informed Consent Initiative
We advocate for an accurate benzodiazepine informed consent process to be implemented at the time of prescription and cessation. See our Informed Consent for more information. Members of our organization have testified in legislative efforts in support of informed consent. Some testimony is available on our YouTube.
Language Awareness Initiative
An initiative to correct inaccurate addiction terminology in the media and medical community.
Media Outreach and Professional Speaking
We speak about prescribed benzodiazepine harm and related topics in the media, including print, video, podcast, and in a professional capacity at various events and conferences. To see some of our work visit Media Outreach and Professional Speaking. A playlist of some of our podcasts is available on Spotify.
Research and Publications
We are collaborating on several research projects, including a study on developing a toolkit for safely deprescribing benzos, and a series of papers reporting results from a benzodiazepine patient experience survey. Our past research can be viewed on Research and Publications.
Safer Tapering Awareness Initiative
We developed our own literature regarding safe benzodiazepine deprescribing and speak regularly about the importance of safer cessation. See resources and our impact for more information.
Social Media Outreach
We educate on various social media platforms about prescribed benzodiazepine harm. Our social media outreach program has provided information to millions. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Website
Our website provides educational information to millions worldwide.
Selected Media Outreach
The Benzodiazepine Information Coalition – Christy Huff, M.D.
In this podcast, Dr. Huff wants to deliver some important messages to doctors & patients who have been or may be prescribed benzodiazepines in the future. Listen to know more.
Cardiologist Discusses her Personal Experience with Benzodiazepine Withdrawal | Interview
Dr. Christy Huff is a cardiologist and director of the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, a not-for-profit organization that educates people about benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome, the difference between addiction and chemical dependency, and the stigma around experiencing side effects from the…
Missouri’s lack of mental health care means patients suffer from over-prescribed anxiety meds
Missouri had the 4th highest rate in the country of residents taking benzodiazepines, and that was before the pandemic amped up anxiety. Experts say that long term use of these medications can cause lasting problems for patients.
What you need to know about the updated benzodiazepine boxed warning [PODCAST]
Christy Huff is a cardiologist and co-director, Benzodiazepine Information Coalition. She can be reached on Twitter @christyhuffMD.She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “The updated benzodiazepine boxed warning: What you need to know.”
The Dangers of Psychiatric Medication | Dr. Jim Wright & Dr. David Cohen – MP Podcast #83
SSRI withdrawal – something I didn’t know existed – gave me the worst psychiatric symptoms I’ve ever had for more than 2.5 years after I suddenly stopped tak…
Dr. Catherine Pittman Shares her Concerns about Benzodiazepines – courageously.u
Dr. Catherine Pittman is sharing her concerns about Benzodiazepines with us inside Episode 40 of The Courageously.u Podcast.
Why You Should Try a ‘Coffee Nap’—and Other Surprising Tips on How to Sleep Better
Want to know how to sleep better? You’re not alone. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Inaugural Sleep Health Index, 45 percent of Americans say that poor or insufficient sleep has impacted their daily activities at least once in the past seven days. And in addition to affecting your perfo…
Benzo nightmare: US doctor on a personal mission to highlight the dangers of the drug
Dr Christy Huff wants people to hear warnings she was never given, writes Margaret Jennings
Ex-benzodiazepine user relating to Peterson says withdrawal ‘hell’ needs awareness
When Audrey Kellestine was prescribed a common drug to treat insomnia, she believed she could stop using it at any time.
He Went on Anxiety Meds for a Short-Term Fix. There Were Long-Term Consequences.
As more patients seek treatment for anxiety, more doctors are prescribing pills. But what happens when a temporary treatment becomes a long-term problem?
Inside CNN Benzos Report: The Next Big Drug Crisis?
Benzos are given out “like candy,” one doctor says.
“This Is Life with Lisa Ling” The Benzos Crisis (TV Episode 2019) – IMDb
The Benzos Crisis: Lisa Ling delves into the world of benzodiazepine use and uncovers the troubling threat these drugs pose when used long term, and the challenges facing patients as they try to quit.
Medical study links miscarriages to anti-anxiety pills
SAN ANTONIO – A new medical study links miscarriages to pills you might have in your medicine cabinet. “I wouldn’t be a functioning person if I did not have this medication in my body,” Angelita Hernandez says. She’s been taking benzodiazepines, commonly known as anti-a…
Video: Guard watched one of inmate’s deadly seizures
A Muskegon County Jail deputy watched as an inmate suffered one of the 17 seizures that led to his death, surveillance video shows.
Safe Prescription Drug Use | Avoiding Addiction
Learn about the risks and dangers of opioids, benzodiazepines and other prescriptions drugs, and how to avoid dependency and addiction.
Xanax withdrawal: ‘I was fighting for my life’
“There is a benzodiazepine crisis in this country,” said a woman who endured 10 months of withdrawal. “Nobody’s talking about this crisis.”
Woman says anti-anxiety pills have stolen her life
SAN ANTONIO – Doctors call it the drug crisis no one is talking about. Two weeks ago, the Trouble Shooters exposed the problems with benzodiazepines – anti-anxiety pills you might have in your cabinet right now. Our story’s received nationwide attention from advocacy groups, patients and…
An epidemic — and it’s not opioids
Why is no one talking about — nor medical professionals addressing — the dangers of benzodiazepines?
Cracking Down on Legal Xanax Could Be a Deadly Disaster
Street dealers will just get more creative—and reckless.
These Pills Could Be Next U.S. Drug Epidemic, Public Health Officials Say
Officials call for prescription curbs, as anxiety drugs show up in more overdose deaths.
Dangers of rising benzo prescriptions raise alarms of next drug crisis
Doctors are prescribing benzodiazepines, like Xanax and Ativan, at skyrocketing rates. But most don’t know about their debilitating, even deadly, effects.
With benzos, a doctor discovers ease of dependency, ordeal of withdrawal
Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of a four-part series on the role of sedatives known as benzodiazepines in the nation’s opioid crisis. Dr. Christy Huff, a Texas cardiologist, was prescribed Xanax after a dry-eye syndrome caused her eyes to “feel like…
A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly (Published 2018)
Despite warnings from experts, older people are using more anti-anxiety and sleep medications, putting them at risk of serious side effects and even overdoses.
Cause-of-death finding bolsters cover-up claim in Fremont County jail inmate’s death
The El Paso County Coroner’s Office has issued a finding in the 2014 death of a Fremont County jail inmate that backs up his family’s contention that he died of
When withdrawal is the hardest part – The Boston Globe
While rampant abuse of heroin dominates public attention, dependency on benzodiazepines remains less widely acknowledged or understood.
Penn & Teller: Bullshit extended interview Dr. Daniel Kripke
An interview with Dr. Kripke about the sleep industry for an episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!www.pennandtellerbullshit.com
Dr. Daniel Kripke, Scripps Sleep Center
Daniel Kripke, a researcher at the Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center, talks with Joanne Faryon about a new study on sleeping pills.
Our Research & Publications
Experiences with benzodiazepine use, tapering, and discontinuation: an Internet survey
Over 92 million prescriptions for benzodiazepines are dispensed in the United States annually, yet little is known about the experiences of those taking and discontinuing them.
Informed Consent – Benzodiazepine Information Coalition
Informed consent is the process by which the treating health care provider discloses appropriate information to a competent patient so that the patient may make a voluntary choice to accept or refuse treatment. It originates from the legal and ethical right the patient has to direct what happens to…
Risks and Benefits of Benzodiazepines
To the Editor The recent Viewpoint about the risks and benefits of benzodiazepines1 dismissed the alarming statistics that 12.6% of people in the US are using benzodiazepines (4 times the rate in other high-income nations), 17% of them are misusing these drugs, and benzodiazepine-related deaths have…
Response to “Acute and Persistent Withdrawal Syndromes following Discontinuation of Psychotropic Medications” by Cosci et al. (2020)
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
Hidden Dangers of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics in the Benzodiazepine-Dependent Population – Benzodiazepine Information Coalition
Whether it was for a sinus infection or bronchitis, most people have taken an antibiotic at some point in their lives. Antibiotics can be lifesaving medications but, like all other drugs, they come with risks….
Hypnotic drug risks of mortality, infection, depression, and cancer: but lack of benefit
This is a review of hypnotic drug risks and benefits. Almost every month, new information appears about the risks of hypnotics (sleeping pills). The most important risks of hypnotics include excess mortality (especially overdose deaths, quiet deaths at …
How chronic administration of benzodiazepines leads to unexplained chronic illnesses: A hypothesis
It is thought that an ill defined biochemical cascade may lead to protracted withdrawal symptoms subsequent to discontinuance of routine use of benzod…
Online Communities for Drug Withdrawal: What Can We Learn?
In this age of chat rooms and social media, an ever-growing number of psychiatric patients use the internet to find their treatment community online.
Position Statement on the Use of Benzodiazepines in Patients Receiving Buprenorphine Treatment
BIC Position Statement on the Use of Benzodiazepines in Patients Receiving Buprenorphine Treatment Laura C. Huff M.D. [a], Peter R. Martin, M.D., M.S.[b],, A. J. Reid Finlayson, M.D., M.M.H.C.[c] [a]Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, Director [b]Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology [c]Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral […]
Psychopharmacology and Commonly Encountered Enzymatic Drug-Drug Interactions: Implications on Psychiatric Treatment and Psychopharmaceutical Discontinuation Protocols
It’s no surprise that drugs don’t always play together nicely in the human body. The term “drug interaction” can stir up a great deal of fear in unsuspecting healthcare consumers and, as a result, a number of web-based drug interaction cross checking systems have been made available to help spread awareness of the risks of combining […]
What do hypnotics cost hospitals and healthcare?
Hypnotics (sleeping pills) are prescribed widely, but the economic costs of the harm they have caused have been largely unrecognized. Randomized clinical trials have observed that hypnotics increase the incidence of infections. Likewise, hypnotics increase …
I petitioned the FDA to restrict hypnotics: here is why
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“Rebound” is not an appropriate criterion for withdrawal insomnia11Dr Kripke’s response (rebuttal) to Dr Mayer and Dr Rodenbeck’s letter published in Sleep Med 2014;15:1169-71.
Author(s): Kripke, DF
Meta-analyses of hypnotics and infections: eszopiclone, ramelteon, zaleplon, and zolpidem – PubMed
Research is needed to objectively determine whether the use of hypnotics increases the risk of infections. Immune compromise or esophageal reflux and aspiration should be studied as possible mechanisms.
Possibility that certain hypnotics might cause cancer in skin – PubMed
Fifteen epidemiologic studies have associated hypnotic drugs with excess mortality, especially excess cancer deaths. Until recently, insufficient controlled trials were available to demonstrate whether hypnotics actually cause any cancers. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Approval History a…
Social Networking and Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: The Realities of Dependence and the Necessity of Support
Dr. Catherine Pittman, along with Dr. William Youngs and Elizabeth (Lisa) Karle conducted the first survey of BenzoBuddies members about their benzodiazepine experiences. Their survey and findings were reviewed by the Institutional Review Board at St. Mary’s College. Dr. Pittman presented their findings at the 2013 ADAA Conference. The survey results were shocking. Some highlights: With […]
SAFE + EASY DONATIONS
Support Benzodiazepine Awareness and Help Us:
- Gain recognition of the existence and severity of prescribed benzodiazepine injury
- Hold and participate in events to educate prescribers and the public
- Push for policies that protect patients on benzodiazepines, whether they choose to remain on or taper off
- Protect those presented with benzodiazepines as a treatment option by giving them true informed consent
- Create more media awareness about this silent epidemic
- Advocate for more prescriber training in safe prescribing and cessation
- Fund research and show the need for future research that helps the harmed
