Rhode Island’s health director is co-leading a nationwide petition drive to urge the federal Food and Drug Administration to require “black box” warnings about the potentially lethal combination of prescription painkillers and tranquilizers.

The request for the black box warning — the FDA’s most serious caution — comes as the health officials have become increasingly concerned about the link between prescription opioids and benzodiazepines in fatal overdoses.

Patients with chronic pain often are prescribed opioids, such as Vicodin and Oxycontin, to treat their pain along with benzodiazepines, such as Valium and Xanax, to treat associated symptoms, such as anxiety and sleep disorders, state health officials said. But taken together they can depress the respiratory system — so severely, in some cases, that the patient may stop breathing.

Read more at: http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20160222/NEWS/160229853