Xanax: America's most beloved sedative since 1969
- addictionfrontline
- Nov 18, 2014
- 2 min read
Xanax has become a seemingly necessary evil in society, ever since its introduction in the 1960s. Each decade pulsated faster. The socially accepted drug, Xanax, hailed from decades of increasing career demands, divorce, bipolar economics, social upheaval and the pressure to succeed. Stress became a liability. Benzodiazepine drugs, like Xanax and Klonopin, diluted stress down to an option.
Xanax abuse helped businessmen during daily flights, helped desperate housewives ignore the stress from their cheating husbands and helped a booming generation of parents ignore their children.
The disease of addiction tends to induce a compulsive response to benzodiazepines - even after a few uses. Few people with addiction would responsibly handle a bottle of Valium. However, what about the majority of people without addictive personalities? The seemingly lucky demographic who do not compulsively abuse substances? A non-addictive personality offers no immunity against chemical dependence, an inevitable consequence of prolonged usage. Once physiologically dependent, withdrawal pillages the brain.
Studies have found a link between benzo use for more than six months and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a British Medical Journal article, in September 2014.
“The risk of Alzheimer’s disease was increased by 43 to 51 percent among those who had used benzodiazepines in the past. Risk increased with density of exposure and when long acting benzodiazepines were used,” the research stated.
Despite the study’s scope of an elderly age range, the results coupled with the high rate of benzo consumption alarms the health community.
In 2011, American pharmacies filled 47,792,000 Xanax prescriptions and 14,694,000 Valium prescriptions, according to the National Prescription Audit (NPA).
Extensive benzo use can dull GABA receptors, neurotransmitters controlling neuron impulses. Withdrawal involves abandoning the brain without a dose of the calming GABA chemical, causing severe panic and high blood pressure. Withdrawal can even cause death. Addiction suffers and people dependent on benzos should only seek detox from a medical facility. Home detox potentially carries lethal outcomes.
The addictive properties of benzos do not discredit the drug’s benefits. Drugs like Xanax and Valium offer a temporary viable solution to victims of divorce, PTSD sufferers or people mourning the loss of a parent or a child. Situations can cripple a person’s ability to function through daily life. The benzo support - much like the hard times – should only not last. Xanax is not a solution for sitting through traffic, sleeping through boring plane flights, enduring bad relationships or handling the daily stress of children.
Society seems to forget stress is a natural part of life. For the majority of Americans, without the disease of addiction, filling Xanax prescriptions because they don’t want to hear the neighbor’s dog bark, perhaps a few tips from addiction recovery would help. Accept what is not in your control, and let it be. Only worry about today because tomorrow is none of your business.
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