Flunitrazepam Facts
Depressant;
Description
Flunitrazepam — Rohypnol, roofies — is a synthetic depressant of the benzodiazepine class. It amplifies the brain's primary calming signal — GABA — producing deep sedation, memory suppression, and muscle relaxation.
Subjective effects include deep sedation, memory blackout, anxiety relief, muscle relaxation, and mild euphoria. The experience is defined by erasure — memory recording stops before the body feels overwhelmed, creating a window of disinhibited wakefulness the user cannot later recall.[1][2]
Flunitrazepam produces rapid physical dependence and can cause death from breathing failure even taken alone.[3] Alcohol cuts the lethal dose to roughly one-third, and combining it with opioids produces respiratory failure that naloxone cannot reverse.[4]
Dose and durationby route · individual sensitivity varies
Starts in 15 – 30 minLasts 4 – 8 hoursAfter-effects 2 – 24 hours
Body and dependence
- Acute toxicity
- High
- Chronic toxicity
- Moderate
- Physical dependence
- High
- Psychological dependence
- High
- Withdrawal
- Life-threatening · fatal · medical supervision
- Compulsive redosing
- Moderate
Tolerance
- Builds
- Rapid
- Fully resets after
- 10.5 days
- Carries over to
- benzodiazepines;
ethanol; barbiturates
Effectslikely at a common dose
- Perception
- Dreaming suppression;
+8 possible, including Vestibular distortion, Visual acuity suppression, Double vision - Body
- Bodily heaviness;
Dizziness; Motor control impairment; Muscle relaxation; Physical fatigue; Sedation; +13 possible, including Nystagmus (eye wobbles), Headache, Nausea - Thinking
- Analysis suppression;
Cognitive fatigue; Cognitive impairment; Decision impairment; Focus suppression; Information processing suppression; Memory fragmentation; Memory suppression; Thought deceleration; +14 possible, including Confusion, Delusions of sobriety, Language suppression - Feeling
- Anxiety suppression;
+3 possible, including Depression - Self
- Disinhibition;
+11 possible, including Communication suppression, Craving, Social disconnection - Time
- none likely · 2 possible, including Temporal disorientation
Who shouldn't take it
Combinations60 recorded
Seek help immediately if
- Extreme drowsiness — can't stay awake or be roused
- Confusion, slurred speech, severe loss of coordination
- Slow, shallow, or irregular breathing
- Unconsciousness / unresponsive; limp, floppy body
- Blue lips or fingertips
- Vomiting while sedated (choking / aspiration risk)
- Cold, clammy skin; weak pulse
What to do
- Try to wake them — shout, firm sternal rub
- If unresponsive or breathing is impaired, call emergency services
- Place them in the recovery position — critical, they can choke on vomit
- Monitor breathing continuously; be ready to give rescue breaths / CPR
- Never leave them alone to "sleep it off"
- Do not give other drugs, stimulants, or more depressants
Most depressant overdoses resolve with airway protection, breathing support, and monitoring. The danger is respiratory depression and choking on vomit — sharply worse when combined with opioids or alcohol. GHB/GBL overdoses often involve sudden deep unconsciousness and may self-resolve, but airway protection is essential.
988 Suicide & Crisis LifelineFireside Project: 62-FIRESIDE
References
- [1]^Ott H, Rohloff A, Aufdembrinke B, Fichte K (1988) Anterograde and retrograde amnesia after lormetazepam and flunitrazepam — Psychopharmacology series PMID:2905806
- [2]^Liebrenz M, Schneider M, Buadze A, et al. (2016) High-Dose Benzodiazepine Users' Perceptions and Experiences of Anterograde Amnesia — Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law PMID:27644866
- [3]^Drummer OH, Syrjanen ML, Cordner SM (1993) Deaths involving the benzodiazepine flunitrazepam — The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology PMID:8311057
- [4]^Mégarbane B, Hreiche R, Pirnay S, Marie N, Baud FJ (2006) Does high-dose buprenorphine cause respiratory depression?: possible mechanisms and therapeutic consequences — Toxicological Reviews PMID:16958555