Australia: novel benzo deaths

Poisoning deaths from ‘novel’ benzodiazepines (NBZDs) – designed to mimic brand-name drugs like Valium and Xanax but with greater potency – spiked in the past 6 years. Out of almost 260 fatal NBZD-related toxicity cases reported since 2013, about 87% occurred 2020-2025, according to Australia’s National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.