Lormetazepam in oral solution: a formulation at risk of high-dose use

Faccini et al. [1] studied the prevalence of high-dose use of benzodiazepines (BZDs), in particular lormetazepam (LMZ), among patients admitted for detoxification during a period of 15 years at an Italian tertiary center. They analyzed a sample of 882 patients, 79% of whom abused one BZD and 21% abused more than one BZD. The numbers of subjects abusing BZDs seem rather low for a tertiary center of a country of about 60 million people, considering that this data was collected over a period of 15 years, which means about 74 patients a year on average. This result seems to confirm that the potential for abuse has been dramatically portrayed in the scientific literature and by the media, despite the fact that recreational BZD abuse is uncommon and that rate of abuse of BZDs is low in relation to the number of people using them [2]. The reinforcing effects of benzodiazepines vary and are considerably weaker than those of other drugs of abuse such as other sedative hypnotics, stimulants and opiates [2]. On the other hand, the reinforcing effects of BZDs are stronger than those of drugs recognized as having little abuse potential, such as chlorpromazine [2].