Benzodiazepines: our other prescription drug epidemic

I got the call every addiction doctor dreads: A patient of mine nearly overdosed. He had a long history of addiction, starting with opioid pain pills in his teens after a sports injury and progressing to heroin by his early 20s. He had been in recovery for six months.

"Was it heroin?" I asked the doctor, who was calling from the emergency department.

"Not opioids," said the doctor. "Benzos."