Benzodiazepines
Using This Page With the Jail Diary
Benzodiazepines were not a group of drugs that Reggie’s family knew to be part of his drug use before reading his Jail Diary.
In the diary, however, Reggie repeatedly refers to medications such as Valium, Dalmane, Serax and Xanax. Some were prescribed to him, while other references appear in very different circumstances.
Understanding what these drugs are, why they are prescribed and how they can also be misused provides important context for reading Reggie’s Jail Diary. Where the surviving record does not establish whether a medication was being used medically or being misused, the archive will say so rather than speculate.
On This Page:
Part 1 — Understanding Benzodiazepines ·
Part 2 — Benzodiazepines in Reggie’s Life ·
Part 3 — Read the Jail Diary
Part 1 — Understanding Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines are a group of prescription drugs that slow activity in the brain and nervous system. They can be prescribed for legitimate medical purposes including anxiety, panic attacks, sleep disorders and seizure disorders.
They can also cause impairment, tolerance and physical dependence. Some people misuse them for their calming or sedating effects, and the risks become particularly serious when benzodiazepines are combined with alcohol, opioids or other drugs that depress the central nervous system.
Benzodiazepines Reggie Mentions
Several benzodiazepines appear in Reggie’s surviving writings:
- Valium — diazepam
- Dalmane — flurazepam
- Serax — oxazepam
- Xanax — alprazolam
These medications have legitimate medical uses. Their appearance in Reggie’s writing does not by itself establish misuse. The circumstances surrounding each reference matter.
Effects, Tolerance and Dependence
Benzodiazepines generally have calming and sedating effects. They can cause drowsiness, dizziness, confusion, memory problems, slurred speech and poor coordination.
With continued use, a person can develop tolerance, meaning that the effects of a particular amount may diminish over time. Benzodiazepines can also produce physical dependence, including when they are being taken for a legitimate medical reason.
Physical dependence and addiction are not automatically the same thing.
Withdrawal
Once physical dependence has developed, suddenly stopping a benzodiazepine or sharply reducing the amount can cause withdrawal.
Symptoms can include anxiety, agitation, difficulty sleeping, restlessness, shaking, sweating and confusion. In severe cases, benzodiazepine withdrawal can cause seizures and other potentially life-threatening complications.
This is particularly relevant when reading about medications in a jail setting, where someone’s access to a drug may change abruptly.
Mixing Benzodiazepines With Other Drugs
One of the most serious risks comes from combining benzodiazepines with other drugs that depress the central nervous system.
Alcohol, opioids and benzodiazepines can all cause sedation. Combining them can substantially increase the risk of profound impairment, unconsciousness, respiratory depression and overdose.
This is particularly relevant to Reggie’s story because alcohol and opioids, including heroin, also appear extensively in his drug history.
Part 2 — Benzodiazepines in Reggie’s Life
Benzodiazepines do not appear as prominently in Reggie’s earlier writings as drugs such as cannabis, cocaine or heroin. In fact, his family did not realize how often these medications appeared in his drug history until his Jail Diary was reviewed years later.
There is, however, an important earlier reference in My Story.
The 1997 Darvon and Valium Overdose
While describing events in 1997, Reggie wrote that he “overdosed on Darvon and Valium.”
Valium is a benzodiazepine. Darvon contained propoxyphene, an opioid. Reggie’s brief reference therefore describes an overdose involving drugs from two different depressant drug classes.
It is an easily overlooked detail in My Story, but it became more significant when considered alongside the numerous references to benzodiazepines that later appeared in his Jail Diary.
Benzodiazepines in the Jail Diary
he Jail Diary provides a much fuller picture. Reggie refers to several benzodiazepines, including Valium, Dalmane, Serax and Xanax, sometimes recording how particular medications affected him.
The circumstances varied. Some were prescribed to him, while other entries describe pills obtained or used outside normal medical treatment.
Taken together, these references revealed a part of Reggie’s drug history that his family knew relatively little about at the time.
Part 3 — Read the Jail Diary
Much of what Reggie’s family now knows about his use of benzodiazepines comes from his Jail Diary.
Throughout the diary, Reggie refers to medications including Valium, Dalmane, Serax and Xanax. The circumstances vary. Some medications were prescribed as part of his medical treatment, while other entries describe pills obtained or used outside normal medical treatment.
Reggie also sometimes recorded how particular drugs made him feel and what happened when medications were available—or unavailable. Read together, these entries provide a much richer picture than any single reference can provide.
For that reason, rather than selecting only a few individual entries here, readers interested in this part of Reggie’s story are encouraged to read through the Jail Diary itself.
The drug-reference pages can be used alongside the diary to identify unfamiliar medications and understand what they were normally prescribed for, their effects and risks, and why some were also sought for their psychoactive effects.
Explore More in the Archive
This page highlights selected material from the archive. Additional references may appear throughout Reggie’s writings, family recollections, documents and other stories. Use Search the Archive to explore this subject further.