Flunitrazepam overdose

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] ; Associate Editor-in-chief: Soumya Sachdeva

Overview

Flunitrazepam/Rohypnol is a prescription drug - the only sedative that has been used in many date rapes in the US. Rohypnol's medical use is a preoperation anesthetic or strong sleeping pill, but stronger doses can bring on amnesia. It takes effect very quickly - sometimes as quick as 10 minutes after taken - and reaches its peak eight hours later when it can render a patient totally unconscious. Rohypnol comes as a pill that can diissolve in liquids. Some are round , small and white. Newer pills are oval and green-grey in colour. When slipped into a drink , a dye in these new pills makes clear liquids turn blue and the dark drinks turn cloudy. But this colour change might br hard to see in a dark drink, or in a dark room.Also the pills with no dye are available. these pills may be grounded up into a powder.

Overdose

Rohypnol® overdose may result in excessive sedation, impairment of balance and speech, and may progress in severe overdoses to respiratory depression, coma, and possibly death. The risk of rohypnol® overdose increases if the drug is taken in combination with central nervous system depressants such as alcohol and opiates. In a retrospective study of deaths, when benzodiazepines were implicated, the benzodiazepines, rohypnol and flunitrazepam were the most common benzodiazepines involved.