Dr. Denis O'Driscoll:

In my experience, you are never aware of what it is until you get hold of a sample in order to test. The issue with testing is that sometimes you are looking for a needle in a haystack. I say that with no disrespect to the testing process. There are so many varietals of the various forms of what is even contained in some of the street benzodiazepines. At one stage, etizolam was the most popular one. Then they had Flubromazolam in some others. Then they had tramadol mixed into others and a bit of paracetamol in others. It is very hard to determine exactly which one we are looking at. Much of our information comes from the European Drug Agency and from the Department of Health's early warning and emerging trends data that it gets from the Garda and Forensic Science Ireland. That is what we are seeing, and then we can determine what it may or may not be. Each benzodiazepine may or may not have higher effects, if that makes sense. Etizolam has more potency. I hate using that word when it comes to compounds. Etizolam has a more significant effect than benzodiazepines that are being prescribed. Hence, it was never made available for human use.