About Medscape Reference. Medscape Reference is the most authoritative and accessible point-of-care medical reference available to physicians and other health care professionals on the Internet and via mobile devices. Three distinct references, the Medscape Condition Reference, the Medscape Procedure Reference, and the Medscape Drug Reference make up Medscape Reference.
Benzodiazepines are a type of medication known as tranquilizers. Familiar names include Valium and Xanax. They are some of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. When people without prescriptions obtain and take these drugs for their sedating effects, use turns into abuse.
In one estimate, a 68-year-old man who had smoked two packs per day for 50 years (100 pack-years) had a 15 percent risk of developing lung cancer in the next 10 years if he continued to smoke. This risk would drop to 10.8 percent if he quit smoking.