By Breeanna Hare, CNN Posted at 5:35 AM ET, Fri October 4, 2019 How benzodiazepines affect your brain 00:51(CNN) — There’s no understating the extent of America’s opioid crisis. In 2017, the same year it became a public health emergency, an estimated 1.7 million people in the US had substance abuse disorders related to prescription opioids.…