Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday has joined a coalition of 21 state attorneys general urging the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to take emergency action against bromazolam, a powerful synthetic drug linked to a growing number of overdose deaths in the commonwealth and across the country.
In a letter to DEA Administrator Terry Cole, the bipartisan coalition called bromazolam “a dangerous and unregulated designer drug” that poses a severe public health threat. Sometimes marketed as “designer Xanax,” the drug is part of a class of illicitly manufactured benzodiazepines and is often combined with opioids or other substances, making it especially lethal.
“It is a race to stay ahead of drug traffickers when dealing with synthetic drugs, and lives depend on immediate action that will give law enforcement the tools to proactively target traffickers,” Sunday said. “This substance has no legitimate purpose and is becoming far too common in Pennsylvania and across the nation.”
Unlike opioids, overdoses from bromazolam cannot be reversed with Narcan, the widely used emergency treatment for opioid poisoning, the attorneys general warned.
“Narcan (naloxone) can reverse an opioid overdose but is ineffective against benzodiazepines like bromazolam. Emergency rooms may carry a reversal agent for benzodiazepines but the use of this reversal agent may come with significant risks,” they wrote.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, “designer” benzodiazepines first appeared in the state in 2022, when they contributed to 59 overdose deaths. That number nearly tripled in 2023, with bromazolam most frequently detected.
Health officials warn that the drug is unpredictable and often disguised. Traffickers sometimes mislabel bromazolam as legitimate prescription medication or mix it with fentanyl, methamphetamine, or other opioids, compounding its dangers.
The coalition of attorneys general said scheduling bromazolam under federal drug laws would give prosecutors new tools to hold traffickers accountable and allow law enforcement to remove the drug from circulation.
“Unlike regulated medications, illicitly manufactured bromazolam lacks any quality controls, making it particularly lethal for unsuspecting users,” the letter stated.
Medical experts caution that misuse of bromazolam carries a high risk of overdose, severe withdrawal symptoms, and potentially deadly side effects such as respiratory depression, coma, or death.
The letter was led by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and signed by attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia — and Pennsylvania.