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Killer Drug ‘Designer Xanax’ Is Uncontrolled in Kentucky. Here’s How Officials Want to Change That
WHIO ^ | August 07, 2025

Posted on 08/15/2025 10:47:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is urging state leaders to ban bromazolam, an illicit drug linked to dozens of overdose deaths in the Commonwealth last year, according to our news partners at WCPO-TV.

Bromazolam, known as ‘designer Xanax,’ is being sold as prescription pills and has proven to be highly potent and lethal, especially when combined with opioids or other depressants.

Coleman credits Northern Kentucky law enforcement for alerting him to the threat, stating, ‘You had a very determined leader from your Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force who wanted to put this threat from this synthetic, this designer Xanax, on my radar.’

The attorney general penned a letter to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, urging Secretary Steven Stack to take emergency action and schedule bromazolam as a controlled substance, WCPO-TV said.

Bromazolam was responsible for at least 47 overdose deaths in Kentucky in 2024, according to the state’s Office of Drug Control Policy.

Without an official ban, law enforcement can only charge bromazolam dealers with trafficking in a counterfeit substance, a nonviolent class D felony with a sentence of 1 to 5 years in prison.

Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders highlighted the disparity in punishment, noting, ‘The punishment for trafficking in heroin or fentanyl in Kentucky is a minimum of 5 years all the way up to life in prison.’Earlier this year, the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service intercepted a parcel containing 958 bromazolam pills, WCPO-TV said.

Coleman is in talks with the DEA as bromazolam remains unscheduled at the federal level, while states like Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia have already scheduled it.

Coleman is working to have bromazolam scheduled in Kentucky, aiming to equip law enforcement with the necessary tools to combat its spread and protect families from its deadly effects.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Kentucky
KEYWORDS: bromazolam; designerdrug; dope; drugs; kentucky; xanax

1 posted on 08/15/2025 10:47:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Do drug abusers have suicidal tendencies and/or a death wish? Once this new drug is stopped they’ll use another one... wouldn’t be surprised if a fairly large contingent of chronic chemical abusers have suicidal tendencies or a death wish


2 posted on 08/15/2025 11:16:30 PM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find. )
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To: nickcarraway

Shoot the dealers! Execute them! That should slow things down.


3 posted on 08/16/2025 12:41:50 AM PDT by Jack023 (Drastic times call for drastic measures.)
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To: Getready

I entered AA some 37 years ago and have had first-hand dealings with drug addicts....addiction can be very strong and I’ve seen heroin addicts die of Methadone ODs. I believe depression is a big factor and life w/o drugs becomes unbearable. It’s tragic to know and like some very good and talented (when off the juice and drugs) people go to the graveyards....


4 posted on 08/16/2025 4:36:46 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: nickcarraway

Bring in Raylan Givens


5 posted on 08/16/2025 4:39:45 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: nickcarraway
Bromazolam NOT responsible for 47 deaths despite what the headline suggests. Bromazolam was present in the toxicology results of those 47 individuals. However, the media and the government overlords fail to mention that fentanyl and/or heroin was also present in those blood test results.

As usual, when the government sees an opportunity to assert its power, it will do so.

6 posted on 08/16/2025 5:57:04 AM PDT by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Trump & Vance, 2024! (Formerly) Goldwater & Thomas Sowell)
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To: Getready

Actually, in my experience many of them are very worried about death. I’ve met many IV drug users who are afraid of needles, ironically. Drug abuse / dependency is a very sad waste of life.


7 posted on 08/16/2025 5:57:22 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: neverevergiveup

I confessed to my wife about my substance addiction. She asked what I was addicted to. I told her that I was addicted to her “substance”. LOL


8 posted on 08/16/2025 6:53:32 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Getready

Drugs are an escape from reality.
There is only one way to truly escape reality.
That is death.


9 posted on 08/16/2025 8:57:09 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Sailing the Seas of Ignorance on a ship named "Free Republic".)
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To: nickcarraway
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is urging state leaders to ban bromazolam, an illicit drug linked to dozens of overdose deaths in the Commonwealth last year, according to our news partners at WCPO-TV.

If the drug is illict (illegal) then why do they need to ban it? This doesn't make sense.

10 posted on 08/16/2025 9:00:04 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn’t become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: gitmo
"If the drug is illict (illegal) then why do they need to ban it? This doesn't make sense."

Means designer molecule that is Schedule-adjacent as a benzodiazepine and "illicit" as in Made In China by the PLA.

A couple of nukes on the PLA loading docks would clean up the United States drug problem in a flash.

11 posted on 08/16/2025 9:05:04 AM PDT by StAnDeliver (TrumpII)
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To: UCANSEE2

Actually, you can also escape reality by becoming a democrat and watching much of the media.


12 posted on 08/16/2025 12:26:38 PM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: Getready

Just let them get all they want and eventually they’ll kill themselves off and then the problem will go away.

I am fed up with all of these street junkies causing the political idiots to make life for legitimate people who go to doctors to get meds to help deal with the constant pain and other issues !!!

I have to travel 1 hour each way every month just to get My Rx refilled and I have to piss in a cup (that costs several hundred dollars each time) because they think that We are all selling our meds to the world !!! They only give Us enough to just take the pain almost away and provide some relief but never enough to actually relieve the pain for long enough to get real relief and be able to relax a bit !!! NOBODY ELSE IS GOING TO GET MY MEDS !!! It’s hard enough to get what is needed and I will never give or sell them to ANYONE !!!

Let the junkies OD and eventually they’ll kill themselves and society will be rid of them...


13 posted on 08/17/2025 1:52:08 AM PDT by mabarker1 ((Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! I’m a fraud, hypocrite & liar. I'm a member of Congress!! C)
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To: mabarker1

100% C0RRECT. I’ve lived with Intractable Pain since the war on Oxy started. And the gov. took away the meaning of Intractable Pain, Chronic is not the same thing.


14 posted on 08/17/2025 5:50:27 AM PDT by GailA (STOP COMPLAINING, AMERICA NEEDS YOUR FULL SUPPORT NOT SOMETIMES, ALWAYS.)
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To: GailA

Hi, I was trying to remember Your FRName. When did the idiots pull that stunt ?

Is there a shortage of that oxy/hydro codone crap in Your area ? It’s happening here because the doc I see keeps asking Me about it. I’m good because I have Morphine 30 ER and I guess most are not.


15 posted on 08/17/2025 12:17:41 PM PDT by mabarker1 ((Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! I’m a fraud, hypocrite & liar. I'm a member of Congress!! C)
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