Legacy Healing Center Blog

Learn about the top four deadly drug combinations from Legacy Healing Center.

When the topic of addiction is brought up, it often focuses around using one specific drug such as cocaine or alcohol instead of using deadly drug combinations.

It is important to remember that as the addiction progresses, it isn’t uncommon for an addict to start abusing multiple drugs at the same time. This is where deadly drug combinations can occur, as side effects and harmful interactions are brought to an even more dangerous level.

When multiple lethal drugs are mixed together, risks are compounded, and combining certain substances together can have deadly consequences.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common drugs that are mixed together and learn more about the risks involved:

Alcohol and Benzodiazepines

It isn’t shocking that alcohol tops the list as part of potentially deadly drug combinations, as it is the most abused substance across the globe. But in addition to drinking alcohol, it is commonly mixed with benzodiazepines (commonly called benzos).

Benzos are a type of drug that is prescribed for anxiety, and some of the most common benzos used are Xanax, clonazepam, and lorazepam. When these two substances are mixed together, they can give the user a heavy sedating and depressant effect.

This can cause drowsiness, poor coordination, and cognitive issues. Depending on the amount taken of each substance, this potentially fatal drug interaction can depress the respiratory and circulatory system, causing someone to stop breathing, slip into a coma, or even die.

Opioids and Benzodiazepines

Similar to mixing alcohol and benzos is combining opioid drugs and benzodiazepines. According to Public Health Policy, this combination is seen in at least 30 percent of overdose deaths in America each year.

Benzos tend to amplify the effects of opioid drugs and create a powerful, yet potentially deadly drug combination. Because opioids are also depressants to the body like benzos, depression of the nervous, respiration and circulatory system can occur.

Gray Death Mixture

This mixture is something we are hearing more about in headlines over the past few years and it comes from mixing a variety of opioids like fentanyl, heroin, and carfentanil.

While this potentially lethal drug mixture gives its user an intense euphoric feeling, it comes with fatal depressive effects on someone’s respiratory abilities. Other side effects include loss of consciousness and heart failure.

Cocaine and Heroin

The deadly drug combination of heroin and cocaine is also known as speedballing. The mixture combines a stimulant and a depressant and it bathes the brain in a sea of dopamine.

The combination can have intense sedating effects because of the heroin while also experiencing stimulating effects from the cocaine. When someone is speedballing, it can be compared to someone’s body being pulled in different directions at the same time and can increase the risk of permanent damage to the body.

Side effects of mixing cocaine and heroin include putting intense strain on the lung, brain and heart, confusion, mental impairment, stroke, heart attack, respiratory failure, and aneurysm.

These are just four of the most common fatal drug interactions that are seen in drug and alcohol addiction.

If you or someone you love is mixing lethal drugs, it is crucial to get help as soon as possible before a deadly combination and amount is taken.

Reach out to the addiction rehabilitation team at Legacy Healing Center today at 888-597-3547. With a variety of treatment and program options, getting help with substance abuse and addiction is just a phone call away.