The World's Most Dangerous Drug

by Christopher Byron
May 11, 2011
from "The Fix"
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"IT's not Adderall or even Oxy. It's Klonopin. And doctors are doling it out like candy, causing a surge of hellish withdrawals, overdoses and deaths.
Klonopin earns Big Pharma Over $1 Billion a Year

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.”

Nicks checked herself into the Betty Ford Clinic in 1986 to overcome a cocaine addiction. After her release, the psychiatrist in question prescribed a series of benzos—first Valium, then Xanax, and finally Klonopin—supposedly to support her sobriety. “ turned me into a zombie,” she told US Weekly in 2001, according to the website Benzo.org, one of many patient-run sites on the Internet offering information about benzodiazepine addiction, withdrawal and recovery. Nicks has described the drug as a “horrible, dangerous drug,” and said that her eventual 45-day hospital detox and rehab from the drug felt like “somebody opened up a door and pushed me into hell.” Others have described Klonopin’s effects as beginning with an energized sense of euphoria but ending up with horrifying sense of anxiety and paralysis, akin to sticking your tongue into an electric outlet, or suddenly feeling that your brain is on fire.


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http://www.thefix.com/content/worlds-most-dangerous-drug?page=all

I know people addicted to this drug, and were addicted to it.
It is miserable..beyond belief.
Xanax, also mentioned in this article, is another one.
An excellent article worth your time.

more important info that never gets reported

I take it for severe anxiety...however, I only use it situationally, and maybe take it 3-4 times a month, and a very low dose at that.

It's helped me tremendously - I don't get euphoric or anything, it just calms me the hell down. I can see how someone could abuse it though.

Usual dosage is one to two pills a day. After a month or two of that, people are gone.
After a while, it becomes 2 to 3 a day. And so on. Xanax is similiar.
And the people I know that were on it, didn't even know that they were gone.
One pill a week, is not what this is about. That level, or 3 a month is not dangerous.

I wasn't trying to diminish your topic. I apologize if it came across that way!

I've known a couple of people who cannot seem to function without popping a couple of Xanax.

Thanks for drawing attention to this. It's amazing how quickly one can become addicted to something before they even realize it.

We were working around some training they had going on and I found out it was about medication. I thought good! They are going to get with the program and stop relying on drugging these kids with problems. Start doing their jobs and dealing with whatever is troubling some of them.

Not a chance! I could hear what they were being told. It was all about procedure and documentation to make sure they were taking their meds. I wanted to go back there and knock some heads together!

I visited my brother and his wife mentioned my college aged nephew being put on medication for depression. My brother shot me a look that said, "don't say anything." He knew what I was thinking.

The kids mom did everything humanly possible to raise him to be a pudgy book worm type kid, just like she was. Now he's interested in girls and upset that they aren't liking him. He need to deal with it and maybe some more uncle "buck" (that's what they call me for good reasons) time!

I'll coach him up a little. His real worry is avoiding the wrong type of girl. He's a sharp kid and going to be rich some day. I'm plotting a white water float trip with him. He's going to school in my area and he's into it. I took him to Alaska a few years ago. There wasn't any of this depression crap going on then.

last night, a documentary mostly about big pharma and the massive drugging of our youth. It was very well done.