America's Most Dangerous Pill?

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/151166/america%27s_most_dangerous_pill/

It's not Adderall or Oxy. It's Klonopin. And doctors are doling it out like candy, causing a surge of hellish withdrawals, overdoses and deaths.


You could argue that the deadliest “drug” in the world is the venom from a jellyfish known as the Sea Wasp, whose sting can kill a human being in four minutes—up to 100 humans at a time. Potassium chloride, which is used to trigger cardiac arrest and death in the 38 states of the U.S. that enforce the death penalty is also pretty deadly . But when it comes to prescription drugs that are not only able to kill you but can drag out the final reckoning for years on end, with worsening misery at every step of the way, it is hard to top the benzodiazepines. And no "benzo" has been more lethal to millions of Americans than a popular prescription drug called Klonopin.

Klonopin is the brand name for the pill known as clonazepam, which was originally brought to market in 1975 as a medication for epileptic seizures. Since then, Klonopin, along with the other drugs in this class, has become a prescription of choice for drug abusers from Hollywood to Wall Street. In the process, these Schedule III and IV substances have also earned the dubious distinction of being second only to opioid painkillers like OxyContin as our nation's most widely abused class of drug.

Seventies-era rock star Stevie Nicks is the poster girl for the perils of Klonopin addiction. In almost every interview, the former lead singer of Fleetwood Mac makes a point of mentioning the toll her abuse of the drug has taken on her life. This month, while promoting her new solo album, In Your Dreams, she told Fox that she blamed Klonopin for the fact that she never had children. “The only thing I’d change is walking into the office of that psychiatrist who prescribed me Klonopin. That ruined my life for eight years,” she said. “God knows, maybe I would have met someone, maybe I would have had a baby.”

More at the link --

[madokie]

1. It may be dangerous but they don't just give it out

it took me several years to get a prescription and I suffer anxiety every day. Anxiety sucks and I see no reason to ever quit taking the drug as the anxiety isn't going away on its own. If you've not suffered anxiety daily then you have no idea as to what it is like. The old hold your breath and count to ten don't get you there either. The deal is I don't abuse it as I don't like the side effects but I love living my days without anxiety. If you don't need it don't take it is my advice.
Oh and its stories/studies like this one that makes it hard for people who need it to get it so you are doing a dis-service to those/me by passing this shit on.

[WillieW]

2. Viagra, a danger to women everywhere.

Especially to women after menopause who happily assumed where done with it. Now they have an old husband on Viagra.

[William769]

3. I was on Klonopin for 3 years.

I was worse off on the drug than off of it. When I decided through friends what it was doing to me I told the Doctor that prescribed that I wanted off of it he advised against it and told me to keep taking it. Needless to say I stoppped cold turkey.

When I was released from the hospital from the withdrawl from my body, I found a new Doctor and a new way of dealing with life.