Bromazolam disguised as alprazolam linked to three hospitalizations in Chicago

On February 1, 2023, three previously healthy adults, two 25-year-old men and a woman, 20, ingested pressed tablets of bromazolam that they believed to be alprazolam, a drug misused recreationally because its effects include disinhibition and euphoria. The patients were found unresponsive approximately 8 hours later. All three received naloxone from emergency medical services without response and were unresponsive on arrival at local EDs. The male patients were discharged on days 11 and 4, and the female patient was transferred to a second hospital on day 11 and was lost to follow-up.