Designer Benzodiazepines: The Drugs Outpacing Both Legislators and Medical Professionals Alike

What exactly are “designer benzodiazepines”? Well, “designer drugs”, as they are sometimes called, are essentially just drugs which are similar in chemical structure and/or effect to drugs which already have established themselves in medicine and/or the underground markets. A good example of this that most people will be familiar with are “bath salts”, as they were commonly known as back during the time when they were sold at convenience stores, headshops, and smoke shops across the United States (in the early 2010s). These “bath salts” were essentially designed to mimic the effects of cocaine or amphetamines. The chemical structure of the drugs found in bath salts, in this case, was in fact different from the drugs that they mimicked in effect though. This is what is known as a “functional analog”, a drug that has a substantially different chemical structure yet elicits similar effects to a drug or drugs of another class. Bath salts were usually classed as “substituted cathinones” which means that they were “structural analogs” of the drug found in the Khat plant which is chewed in some locales for its stimulant effect. In our culture however, this practice is relatively unheard of compared to cocaine use or amphetamine use. Thus, people in our culture more often viewed them as functional analogs of cocaine or amphetamines rather than functional and structural analogs of cathinone itself which is the aforementioned drug which is found in the Khat plant (that is outside of people involved in academia of course; for the layperson). I lead into this topic with this as an example because it will greatly assist readers in understanding what I am about to explain in the remainder of this article.

So, designer benzodiazepines are usually (well, honestly, pretty much always to some degree or another) both structural and functional analogs of the benzodiazepines which are utilized in mainstream medicine to treat anxiety disorders and other similar mental health issues. Designer benzodiazepines have become the predominant drugs in the underground benzodiazepine markets around the world (not just in the USA). They mimic the effects of the traditional benzodiazepines quite well, and most were originally designed to circumvent the current laws prohibiting sale and possession which apply to traditional benzodiazepines. Or, at very least, that is why they were brought back from the dead so to speak after clinical research on them was abandoned decades ago depending on which specific specimen we are exploring. These days, as law makers have become increasingly savvy, many of the designer benzodiazepines have been either outlawed in the countries in which they are consumed, or in the countries in which they are produced. As of present, the majority of the most popular designer benzodiazepines have been outlawed in the USA aside from bromazolam. Bromazolam is a close relative of alprazolam, also known as Xanax. The only difference is that it has a bromine atom in place of the chlorine atom, and because of this slight chemical difference it is technically legal to possess and sell even if intended for human consumption (unless state law otherwise prohibits it). On a federal level, it has not yet been made illegal, and the Federal Analog Act does not apply to it since it is not an analog of a Schedule I or II drug. So, the majority of illicit Xanax sales are actually of bromazolam that has been pressed into tablet form that mimics that of legitimate Xanax.

Recently, a push to prevent production of bromazolam has occurred in the country in which it has typically been produced leading to the drug being outlawed there (China). This means that once the current batches of bromazolam run out the distributors and manufacturers of fake Xanax will be changing the formulas of the products they sell. The designer benzodiazepine that will most likely take its place is ethylbromazolam. The only difference between bromazolam and ethylbromazolam is the ethyl group, but this minor structural alteration alone (again) puts ethylbromazolam into a legal gray area since bromazolam itself was never scheduled by the DEA in the USA. However, in some states it has been outlawed under state legislature, and there has been rumor of prosecution even in states where it isn’t explicitly illegal when sold as Xanax (Illinois). Now, had bromazolam been placed into Schedule I by the DEA as often happens with designer drugs when their prevalence surges, then ethylbromazolam sales and possession would be considered prosecutable offenses under the Federal Analog Act. And, while there are discussions right now about doing so, by the time enough momentum will have built for it to matter, the entire underground market will have already shifted to ethylbromazolam and the scheduling will be a day late and a dollar short since all vendors will then do is get ready to offload the last of their inventory at a moments notice once lawmakers begin to switch their focus onto ethylbromazolam itself while anticipating the next designer benzodiazepine(s) that will take its place. During that time, ethylbromazolam will still technically be legal if not sold for human consumption which gives them a little bit of leeway to get rid of what they have on hand if this is executed carefully. By the time any changes to the legal landscape occur in the USA, the markets will have had ample time to brace themselves because the producers always have contingency plans in place for when it does, and by the time the distributors have gotten rid of any remaining ethylbromazolam the producers will have the next best thing waiting to be shipped out to replace it before it becomes explicitly illegal as well. And so repeats the cycle ad infinitum…

Fortunately, ethylbromazolam seems to be about half the potency of bromazolam based on reports circulating on the internet at this time which means its safety profile is a little better in terms of overdose risk. However, whose to say that ethylbromazolam will be the only drug that distributors switch to? While it seems to be the most likely candidate, and pills containing ethylbromazolam are already being found increasingly often in drug seizures and are being identified in pills circulating on the underground markets by drug identification labs in several countries, ethylbromazolam is not the only drug which is beginning to appear in the illicit supply of fake Xanax. There are also other designer benzodiazepines which seem to be considered suitable replacements by some vendors which are of greater potency than bromazolam itself such as clobromazolam (aka phenazolam). Benzodiazepines differ not only in their overall potency but also in their “pharmacokinetics” (or the way they are metabolized), particularly their “half-life”, which is the time it takes for the body to metabolize and eliminate the drug. A longer half-life generally corresponds to a longer duration of effects, while shorter half-lives tend to produce more rapid, transient effects. Beyond half-life, each benzodiazepine also has a unique “binding profile” at the various benzodiazepine receptor subtypes. These subtypes, five in total, mediate different physiological and psychological effects, including sedation, anxiolysis (anxiety relief), muscle relaxation, and, in some cases, memory impairment or “blackouts.” The drug’s binding profile determines its relative potency at each receptor subtype, which in turn shapes its specific effect profile. In other words, while a benzodiazepine may have a general potency, its selective activity at specific receptor subtypes explains why some are more effective for sleep, others for anxiety, and some may carry higher risks of amnesia. This interplay between half-life, overall potency, and receptor-specific activity is what gives each benzodiazepine its distinct clinical characteristics. That being said, none of these designer benzodiazepines are exactly the same as another, and so the goal should be to as closely as possible match the drug being impersonated which bromazolam did well in doing for alprazolam (Xanax). But, with bromazolam out of the picture, things are getting a bit “weird” in the world of underground benzodiazepines with manufacturers and distributors alike just hoping to keep as many clients as possible while working up a better replacement. And, clobromazolam is the perfect example of this because while it is being marketed as a bromazolam replacement (with reports of it even being called “bromazolam 2” by at least one vendor), it is literally nothing like it.

Getting back on track with the original point though, if a manufacturer does utilize a drug which is significantly more potent than bromazolam in their production such as clobromazolam, then we will see much the same happen with it as we see happen with fake “Perc 30s” in the USA wherein we have batches of pills which may not be blended well enough to distribute the drug into the product homogeneously. As a result, there will be some pills that are considerably more potent than others. The consequences of such are obvious to anyone familiar with benzodiazepines, but to specify since the side effects of a benzodiazepine overdose differs from that of the type of overdose associated with the fake “Perc 30s” some readers may be more familiar with, users will likely experience blackouts and sudden, unexpected periods of very deep sleep. And, since clobromazolam has a very long half-life, the length the effects last are much longer and it can build up in a person’s body much more easily as well which can result in each subsequent dose eliciting a significantly greater effect than the last. Already, this type of accidental overdose occurs to some degree with bromazolam, but not quite to the extent it will with even higher potency drug(s) that may end up replacing it on the underground markets (especially not ones with longer half-lives due to the cumulative effect). This is something that people should be made aware of because of the danger posed by such overdoses in terms of risk of physical injury or death if unprepared for such potentially happening. While none of these designer benzodiazepines are nearly as harmful as the media makes them out to be in terms of acute toxicity, there is still a very real risk of one blacking out or falling asleep during an activity that requires alertness. The fact of the matter is that, while the designer benzodiazepines may not be as toxic as they are made out to be by the media, there is still risk associated with the effects they may cause in those unprepared for them. This risk is increased when batches of fake Xanax are distributed which are more potent than other batches, or when specific pills within the batches are not of the usual/expected potency. Making mistakes is a lot easier when dealing with drugs active in microgram doses than those active in milligram doses. And, as mentioned earlier, even those active in milligram doses can prove a bit tricky to properly handle. Oh, and this doesn’t even get into the potential for dependence which can result in life threatening withdrawal that accompanies all benzodiazepines with long term use.

There is one online distributor that offers a reagent test to individuals which can be used to determine which benzodiazepine is present in a given pill, but the problem lies in the fact that even if one determines the pills contain the more potent benzodiazepine it can not tell the person the concentration of the drug found in the product. Not to mention the fact that these reagent tests are not able to identify every single benzodiazepine, and those which can be identified aren’t always reliably identified 100% of the time depending on what else may happen to be present in the sample. It is highly recommended that lab testing be done with every batch to verify both the strength of the product as well as the exact chemical composition, but doing so is cost prohibitive for most drug users. And, even if one were to have 1/10th of a batch lab tested to determine potency and to identify the specific substances it contained, there is still the risk that the random selection of pills submitted may not be an entirely accurate depiction of the potency of the rest of the batch or even the chemical composition of the rest of the batch. While it does help reduce risk, there will always be some risk involved especially when handling drugs such as these which range in potency so widely. There is no way around it.

So, if you are currently a user of illicitly obtained “Xanax”, be aware of the fact that these changes are going on in real time. Last I checked (which was in the early part of 2025), the last of the bromazolam on the underground markets is nearly gone. And, the distributors of the pressed “Xanax” bars have been telling clients to get ready for a new formula once they run out, so I would estimate that by the end of 2026 most of the pills hitting the streets will be the newer formulas. There is a reversal agent for overdose, flumazenil, but that is only helpful to bring a person out of a blackout or chemically induced slumber. It will not prevent injury or death from occurring during an unexpected overdose during an activity requiring full attention such as driving or using heavy equipment. I cannot stress enough the importance of practicing harm reduction measures when handling such drugs (especially now as the markets shift). To make matters worse, there have even been reports of nitazenes being found in batches of drugs which were thought to be benzodiazepines. But, this is a topic of discussion for another article. For now, I will leave you with some links relevant to what we have covered today…

Be safe out there, spread the word, and possibly save a life!

Ethylbromazolam – The New Global Benzodiazepine
'It's killing people': Deadly 'designer Xanax' drug hits Tri-State streets (Extremely exaggerated, but great as a point of reference)
21 state AGs ask feds to ban 'designer Xanax' after Kentucky ban (Highlights how behind legislators are in tackling the issue)
‘New/Designer Benzodiazepines’: An Analysis of the Literature and Psychonauts’ Trip Reports (Medical research on multiple benzos)
Drug Buyers Guide Thread on Clobromazolam (Description of effects including potentially dangerous respiratory depression)
Benzo Research Project (A grassroots UK-based organization advocating for young people who use benzodiazepines)