Abstract

CORREA ALFARO, Flavio Andrés  and  GARCIA HERNANDEZ, María Noelia. Recreational use of benzodiazepines in the young population. Ene. [online]. 2019, vol.13, n.1, 1316.  Epub Oct 01, 2019. ISSN 1988-348X.

Introduction: the consumption of psychotropic drugs and, specifically, of benzodiazepines, is experiencing a significant growth in Europe in recent years, which entails a greater risk of abuse consumption, dependence and non-medical use, especially in younger populations. Objectives: to review the available literature about non-medical and/or recreational use of the benzodiazepines in the young population. Material and method: a bibliographic review of the literature published in the databases of PubMed, Virtual Health Library, Cochrane Library Plus and ScienceDirect during the period of one month was carried out. The quality of the selected articles was analyzed with specific instruments according to the type of study. Results: a total of 980 articles were located. Finally, 10 articles were included due to their relevance: 2 systematic reviews, 2 cohort studies and 6 cross-sectional epidemiological studies. All selected articles showed quality and acceptable evidence. The main issues that agglutinate the results are reasons for consumption without prescription, sources of acquisition and co-intake with other drugs Discussion: youth has become an ideal stage to experiment with different drugs, increasing cases of poisoning and visits to the emergency services. The excessive prescription of benzodiazepines facilitates its availability and accessibility by this population group.

Keywords : benzodiazepines; psychotropic drugs; drugs abuse; recreational use; youths.

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