CASES OF FATAL TRIAZOLAM POISONING

Benzodiazepines have been regarded as relatively safe drugs but since triazolam was introduced into Denmark in 1978, six fatal cases of poisoning by triazolam alone or in combination with ethanol, have occurred in East Denmark. In one case where no ethanol was detected, a blood triazolam concentration of 0.11 mg/l was found. In another case in which blood was unavailable because of putrefaction, muscle was analyzed. In the four cases in which the ethanol concentration was in the range 110-202 mg/ 100 ml, the triazolam concentration range was 0.04-0-22 mg/l. Blood concentrations from these five cases were compared to those from living persons who had also ingested the drug, and these were in the range 0.002-0.03 mg/l (n = 28), with an average concentration of 0.01 mg/l.