Using benzodiazepines in combination with other depressant drugs such as alcohol, codeine, morphine or heroin can further decrease alertness and impair your ability to think or perform activities that require judgement of time, space and distance. This makes it dangerous to drive, operate machinery, ride a bicycle or maybe even walk across intersections. If you are taking benzodiazepines, it is wise not to drink alcohol due to the unpredictable effects of mixing these two drugs.
Depending on how much of each medicine you take, your central nervous system can slow down to the point where you have difficulty breathing, become unconscious, go into a coma or even die. Sometimes benzodiazepines must be used with other depressant drugs. Your doctor will prescribe each medicine carefully and monitor you.
Heroin users sometimes take benzos when they are not able to obtain heroin or when they are trying to stop using heroin. Combining these drugs can be deadly. In Australia, benzos are involved in more than 50% of heroin-related deaths.
If you have taken benzos, it is possible that the level of the drug in your bloodstream will remain high the following day. It takes a smaller amount of heroin to overdose, even on the day after you used benzos.
If you are prescribed benzodiazepines, it is important to tell your doctor about any other drugs you are taking (including prescription and over-the-counter drugs).