Importantly, buprenorphine’s beneficial effect was observed among both benzodiazepine users and nonusers. This is an important finding because the safety of benzodiazepine use in buprenorphine users has been a topic of contentious debate in the past, leading to restrictions on buprenorphine treatment among benzodiazepine users that were later reversed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.(4, 36) Our results demonstrate that even though benzodiazepines may increase drug-related poisonings, buprenorphine’s protective effect is not eliminated by benzodiazepine treatment. Overall, our findings suggest that for patients taking both benzodiazepines and buprenorphine, dose reduction of benzodiazepines—while maintaining buprenorphine treatment-- may have the advantage of decreasing overdoses associated with both benzodiazepines and the benzodiazepine/buprenorphine interaction. As previous studies have found benzodiazepines to be associated with improved treatment retention in patients receiving buprenorphine,(4, 11) dose reduction of benzodiazepines may be more preferable to abrupt cessation.
