This is such an embarrassing story to tell, however, if one person doesnt make the same mistake then its worth it to me. The worst part of this drug is that I have lapses in memory and once I am under the influence, I take more and everything spirals out of control.
Lorazepam
Well-documented
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 5 corroborating sources
- 3 ROAs with full dose ladders
- duration data present
- 27 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 5 corroborating sources
- 3 ROAs with full dose ladders
- duration data present
- 27 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Aliases: Tavor, Ativan, Temesta, Orfidal, Lorsilan
Summary
Lorazepam is a classical benzodiazepine known for strong sedative and amnesic properties. It should only be used for short-term relief due to rapid tolerance and severe withdrawal risks. Never discontinue abruptly after regular use; tapering over weeks is essential.
Dose Information
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 0.25-0.5mg | 0.5-1.5mg | 1.5-2mg | 2mg+ |
| Sublingual | 0.25-0.5mg | 0.5-1.5mg | 1.5-2mg | 2mg+ |
| Intramuscular | 0.25-0.5mg | 0.5-1mg | 1-2mg | 2mg+ |
Light
Common
Strong
Heavy
Sources
Oral
Dose ladder — Light: PsychonautWiki · Common, Strong: dose.wiki, PsychonautWiki · Heavy: dose.wikiSublingual
Dose ladder — Light: same as the Oral row (PsychonautWiki) · Common, Strong: same as the Oral row (dose.wiki, PsychonautWiki) · Heavy: same as the Oral row (dose.wiki); no source states a Sublingual ladderBenzo Equivalence Calculator
mg
1.0
mg
Lorazepam
=
—
mg
Diazepam
| Substance | Equivalent Dose | Potency |
|---|
⚠ These are approximate equivalences for educational and cross-tapering reference. Individual response, tolerance, and half-life differences mean actual equivalence varies. Always consult a healthcare provider for tapering guidance.
Onset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Comeup | Peak | Offset | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 20-60 min | 30-90 min | 1-6 hrs | 6-12 hrs | 4-20.5 hrs |
| Sublingual | 10-20 min | 20-60 min | 1-6 hrs | 6-12 hrs | 4-19.33 hrs |
| Intramuscular | 5-30 min | - | 4-8 hrs | 2-4 hrs | 4-8 hrs |
Effect Profile
49 reportsScores (0–10) curated from multiple sources:
- Effect keyword matching from PsychonautWiki catalog
- Validated against 39 Erowid trip reports
- Weighted by importance: core (×3), major (×2), minor (×1)
Benzodiazepine
7.3
Strong+
7/10
Strong anxiolysis with strong cognitive impairment, moderate sedation and euphoria
Anxiolysis
×3
10
anxiety suppression
anxiolytic
muscle relaxation
emotion suppression
Sedation / Relaxation
×2
7
sedation
muscle relaxation
Motor / Cognitive Impairment
×1
10
motor control loss
memory suppression
amnesia
delusions of sobriety
double vision
Euphoria / Mood Lift
×1
7
physical euphoria
disinhibition
Based on reports from:
Tolerance
Build-up
develops over 1–4 weeks of daily use; hypnotic tolerance faster than anxiolytic tolerance
Reset
Falls after you stop, at a rate that varies from person to person. If you've been using regularly, cut down gradually with medical help rather than stopping suddenly.
No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for these drugs were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.
How fast tolerance to these drugs fades after a break has not been measured well enough to draw, so don't count on a dose you used to take still being safe: after time off, start with a much smaller amount and don't use alone. Mixing sedatives with each other, with alcohol or with opioids sharply raises the risk of a fatal overdose. If you've been using regularly, don't stop suddenly: withdrawal from benzodiazepines, alcohol or GHB/GBL can cause seizures or delirium, so get medical help to cut down gradually.
Sources: FRANK: benzodiazepines · Alcohol and Drug Foundation: GHB · FDA 2020: benzodiazepine boxed warning · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing · NHS: alcohol use disorder
Cross-Tolerances
Other benzodiazepines
Z-drugs (zolpidem, zopiclone)
Effects
Aggregated from 39 single-substance Erowid and 10 Bluelight experience reports; 57 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Rows resting on fewer than 20 reports show a count (“3 of 7”) instead of a bar. Why 20?
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 14
28.6% (95% interval 18 to 42 percent)
83%
17.9% (95% interval 9 to 33 percent)
–
16.3% (95% interval 8 to 29 percent)
80%
16.3% (95% interval 8 to 29 percent)
80%
10.3% (95% interval 4 to 24 percent)
–
2 of 10
78%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
75%
1 of 10
70%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
85%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
85%
1 of 10
80%
Adverse Effects 26
23.1% (95% interval 13 to 38 percent)
–
20.4% (95% interval 12 to 34 percent)
85%
10.3% (95% interval 4 to 24 percent)
–
8.2% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
75%
7.7% (95% interval 3 to 20 percent)
–
3 of 10
85%
3 of 10
83%
3 of 10
90%
2 of 10
88%
2 of 10
82%
2 of 10
78%
2 of 10
72%
2 of 10
78%
1 of 10
85%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
90%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
70%
1 of 10
70%
1 of 10
80%
Show 6 more adverse effects
1 of 10
85%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
85%
1 of 10
75%
1 of 10
85%
1 of 10
85%
Also reported in combinations. In the 57 Lorazepam reports where another drug was taken too, 19 (33.3%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 3 (5.3%) a seizure and 2 (3.5%) psychosis. In the 39 single-substance reports: 17.9%, 2.6% and 2.6%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Lorazepam alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Combinations
Cross-Check Lorazepam with another substanceCommunity Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Erowid 8 reports 1 positive 3 neutral 4 cautionary visit
I was prescribed Lorazepam (Ativan) to allay my social anxiety symptoms. I was instructed to take 1 to 2 .5mg tablets 3 times daily. I had already tripped on the stuff prior to obtaining my own prescription and I loved the way it made me feel, so I never followed the dosage recommendations and took the pills recreation...
I'v been taking Ativan for about a week now. 1-2mgs 1-3 times a day. This drug makes me feel rather slow and muddled. It is of course a downer but along with the usual effects of a Benzo (i.e. xanax, vallium, ect.) comes a sort of uneasy, queezy feling, espesially when exeeding recommended dosage.
Im in my mid 20s, over 6 foot tall. 2007 I underwent custom Lasik surgery on both my eyes. Prior to the surgery, all I had done drug wise was had a few beers the night before, and during the week I had been taking my usual multivitamin and 2mg of Acetyl L Carnitine I take daily.
A few years ago I had a few very bad experiences with Klonopin, that resulted in my hospitalization due to the paradoxical effect it had on me. I ended up hurting myself as well as a few policemen who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was deemed clinically insane and no charges were ever filed.
I have used almost every drug the government tells us not to, and all I can say is that my life, all thirty years of it, have been one hell of a discovery. My relationship with mind altering substances began at 15, and I have no intention on stopping now.
It's amazing how much a small decision could impact someone's life forever. It may not seem like such a big deal to the 'hard-core' drug users, but it changed my life forever. I have a couple experiences with over-the-counter highs (benadryl) like a lot teenagers.
History of user: 29 y/o female. Experimented with a variety of psychoactive agents in college (LSD, mushrooms, ecstasy, ketamine, cocaine, marijuana, etc.) both recreationally and as psychoactive growth opportunities.
Bluelight 8 threads 5 neutral 3 cautionary visit
So i got my ativan script filled early today, a week early in fact (poor little heart patient ), anyhow i was feeling edgy and tired at the same time, so i decided to take 2mg Lorazepam at 9pm. Fun stuff ususally, really helps the insomnia cracked out feeling.
This is the second time I've ever taken a benzodiazepine in my life. I have taken one clonazepam pill a couple months back, but it didn't do much since the dose was small. Either way, my point is that I have pretty much no tolerance to this stuff.
another incident from me i took ten pills(10mg) effects was like this: i saw different colored-sized "light clouds" moving freely in the air. i could touch them and when i do it my hands color turns to the color of cloud which i play.
I got some lorazepam, so for my first time I decided to take just .5mg. Basically, it was very weak. t+30min - can feel its effects coming in.. minor sedation t+60min - small euphoria being experienced, possibly placebo. Feeling more sedated but not much. When walking, I feel a little weak in the legs.
im going to post some of the craziest shit. about ativan, sleep deprivation. like 2 and half days maybe three days. because i was detoxing from 15 maybe more. days of hard core drinking. when i quit drinking, i puked 7 times in 24 hours! totally sucked.
I know this report sounds unbelievable and ridiculous. But This combo almost drove me to suicide .I use cannabis daily .I also use amphetamines probably 4 or 5 times a week.
This happened almost exactly a year ago. I was a benzo addict and I found out about a week earlier before this "trip" that I was going to rehab for Xanax/Klonopin abuse. I am an epileptic so naturally I get scripts of Ativan for potential seizures.
Preface: I am diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Attack Disorder. Medications I've tried to help treat this (acquired either by doctor's prescription or attained by my own accord) include many "weaker" anxiety drugs as well as benzos: klonopin, valium, xanax, and ativan.
Pill Identifiers
31
known pill identifiers on record — view imprints, colors, shapes, and images
→
Lorazepam's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
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Helpful Links
Add missing routes to PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal app already has Lorazepam, but its built-in entry only covers Oral. Here are the other routes we have data for. You can't edit a built-in substance, but you can add a Custom Unit for any of these routes to log it.
⬇ Download import file
Import this file as custom substances
and you get "Lorazepam (Substance Search)" with every
route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and
Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's
developer. The manual values below work for older
versions.
Custom Unit doses
- Sublingualcommon ~ 1 mg
- Intramuscularcommon ~ 0.75 mg
Dose & duration (reference)
Lorazepam: routes the PsychonautWiki Journal app is missing Source: SubstanceSearch (substancesearch.com) Sublingual dose (mg): threshold 0.25 · light 0.25-0.5 · common 0.5-1.5 · strong 1.5-2 · heavy 2+ Intramuscular dose (mg): light 0.25-0.5 · common 0.5-1 · strong 1-2 · heavy 2+ Sublingual duration: onset 10-20m · come-up 0.33-1h · peak 1-6h · offset 6-12h · total 4-19.33h · after-effects 24h Intramuscular duration: onset 5-30m · peak 4-8h · offset 2-4h · total 4-8h · after-effects 1-12h Note: ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription. Start low, go slow, and test your substances.
Custom Units carry a single dose per route, so the full ranges live in the reference above. A route's suggested dose is the midpoint of its common range. Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.
Report an issue or suggest an edit
Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Lorazepam? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.