Regulation of benzodiazepine prescribing practices: clinical implications

In an effort to control prescription abuse of benzodiazepines, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) enacted a regulation requiring the use of triplicate prescriptions for these medications. DOH predicted that this regulation would reduce the overall abuse of benzodiazepines and eliminate widescale organized fraud and abuse without any negative impact or reduced availability to patients. Following implementation of the regulation, the authors reviewed all psychiatric emergency room cases and outpatient clinic walk-in evaluations over a 3-month period in an urban medical center and identified 59 cases in which the use of benzodiazepines was a significant presenting problem. Of these, 24 (41%) were judged to be directly related to the new triplicate regulation. In all but one of these cases the patient presented because of symptoms or concerns directly stemming from the refusal by a clinician to continue prescribing a benzodiazepine in a previously established pattern. Typically, abrupt discontinuation of benzodiazepine treatment led to a withdrawal syndrome and/or the unmasking of a previously treated anxiety disorder. In attempting to redress what are essentially criminal substance abuse problems through the regulation of legitimate clinical practice, regulatory agencies may ultimately deprive patients of appropriate, legitimate, and efficacious treatments.