…Yup, Driving Under Influence of Sleeping Pills!

  Now there has become a growing hazard on the roadway, the kind where motorist smash into parked cars, plows over sidewalks and drives in the wrong direction, all the while oblivious to the destruction thats left behind, it’s a new kind of hit and run! -These drivers aren’t drunk, stoned -they’re under the influence of Ambien, the newest popular prescription sleeping pill!

  Ambien is regularly popping up as a factor in traffic arrests, involving drivers who don’t even remember getting behind the wheel; according to a post found in The New Yourk Times.

  In some states toxicology laboratories, Ambien showed up in the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. In Wisconsin, Ambien was detected in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004.

  And as more insomniacs turn to this drug -(not like there aren’t other ways to getting a better nights sleep…) but there were 26.5 million prescriptions filled last year in the United States alone! Ambien-related arrests and accidents are expected to be on the rise! -So watch out for the mid-Westners!

   [Here is a good one]: In Washington state, officals counted 78 impaired-driving arrests in which Ambien was the factor, last year. Up from 56 cases in 2004. Some of Washington’s zombie-like drivers said they took the pill while behind the wheel so that it would kick in by bedtime!-

“Wow, that’s a really bad idea,” said sleep special Dr. Brook Judd, as assistant professor on medicine. “These newer sleep medications have a rapid onset so people can get to sleep quickly. You shouldn’t take them until you are really ready to go to bed.” >Don’t doctors pound this into patients heads when they are getting evaluated for these kind of things (drugs)?

  Several cases also involved drivers using alcohol with Ambien -a combination that magnigies the drowsy- lifeless effects of this drug.  A spokeswoman for the Food & Drug Admin told the newspaper that the agency is aware of the reports of people driving while sleepwalking, but said that the drug’s current warning lable states, …Should not be used with alcohol and in some cases could cause sleepwalking or hallucinations, which were adequate. Users are advised not to drive or operate machinersy while taking the drug. > So whats wrong with this picture? We have warning labels for a reason…right?

  Laura J. Liddicoat, the forensic toxicology supervisor at Wisconcin’s state lab, resented six cases of Ambien drivers at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Scientisits, including a man who crashed into two cars and drover a curb. This was all news to him when he came to in the police station!