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Zolpidem Research Paper

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Zolpidem is a short-term medicinal treatment for insomnia. It can be prescribed and is effective in initiating sleep in the consumer. It also appears to offer a temporary but effective relief of symptoms of aphasia, a collective term for a range of language disorders present in some survivors of strokes, and current research is implying that its presence in the body may bring consciousness to people in vegetative states. However, there are several negative effects such as uncomfortable side effects, withdrawal symptoms if dependency on the drug occurs, dangerously impaired driving ability the day after dosage and it is an effective, legal and easily obtainable “date rape” drug.

Zolpidem is a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic that potentiates a inhibitory …show more content…

As stated previously, it is possible to become dependent on drugs containing this substance. Huang, Lin and Chen (2007) state that a zolpidem-dependent patient they analysed was, within a year of being prescribed the drug, taking daily doses of 1000mg. She noticed anxiety, tremors and palpitation, and she soon increased dosage to 2000mg/day to relieve the symptoms. From here, on attempts at decreasing dependence, she suffered withdrawal-related seizures and amnesia. Also, ethical issues surround its distribution; for example, it is an effective “date rape drug” as it dissolves readily in alcoholic beverages and unlike the traditional drug for this use, the banned substance Rohypnol, zolpidem is legally obtainable in many countries by prescription; for example, in 2012 43.8 million prescriptions were filled in the United States. Zolpidem was infamously used for this purpose by Darren Sharper, a former National Football League player who slipped zolpidem into the drinks of four women whom he proceeded to rape. Emanuel, an attorney (2014) stated that Ambien has replaced roofies as the rape drug of choice as it has a short half-life of two to three hours and is difficult to

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