Media coverage suggests that many people are addicted to benzodiazepines and keen to stop taking them. Our recent efforts to recruit subjects into a programme offering withdrawal, however, had a disappointing response. As a result we initiated this survey. Our decision to study patients taking benzodiazepines long term reflects the current medical opinion that long term use is likely to cause problems.1 Subjects were recruited from a general practice serving 13 000 patients. The catchment was mixed, including prosperous suburbs and council estates. Using the practice's computerised records for repeat prescriptions we identified all patients taking benzodiazepines during the day and included those in the survey who had been prescribed the drugs for more than one year. Patients were interviewed at home. Psychiatric history and detailed histories of benzodiazepine use were taken. Patients …