What is Bromazolam?

What is Bromazolam?

Bromazolam is a synthetic benzodiazepine drug which was first synthesised in the 1970s but was never marketed as a pharmaceutical product.  It was first detected in the international drug market in 2016 with levels of detection increasing since 2022. It is most similar to Xanax in effect with hypnotic (sedative) and anxiolytic (relief of anxiety) properties.

What do we need to know?

The effects of Bromazolam will be similar to many benzodiazepine type drugs which you can read about in our Drugs A-Z and our in depth benzodiazepine booklet.

Benzo pills which have not been prescribed and are from the ‘street’ or illicit market made in unregulated labs. Many of them may imitate genuine prescription pills and come with packaging that looks real. It is likely that the majority of tablets that have not been prescribed do not contain the expected drugs such as Valium (diazepam) or Xanax (alprazolam) and could contain one or more of a variety of new benzo-type drugs. These drugs are normally ones which are not available as medicines and ones we know little about in terms of risk, dosage and the effects of long term use. Bromazolam is just one example of a new benzo type drug which may be sold in Scotland as a benzo tablet and is the one which has been found most commonly in tablets circulating in Scotland that have been tested in the last 6 months. People taking street benzos should be aware that the contents of tablets can vary, even within the same batch and may produce different effects/risks with each tablet.

What we do know is that often these newer drugs are more potent meaning that less of the drug is needed for the effects to be felt and that it is possible to overdose from much smaller amounts. They may also take longer for the effects to come on and might feel different to other benzos that are available (e.g. might not give the same relaxing (relief of anxiety) or sedative effects).