"Some Sleeping Pill Users Range Far Beyond Bed"

Essay by mezziah March 2006

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The article, "Some Sleeping Pill Users Range Far Beyond Bed" found in The New York Times talks about a new type of motorist hitting the roads intoxicated with the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill called Ambien. Ambien, in some state toxicology labs identify the pill as making the top ten drugs found in impaired drivers. Officials from Wisconsin identified the sleeping pill in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004. Data collected from random cases have found numerous users of the drug to be involved in sleep driving. The individual could not recall any event leading up to the arrest, according to interviewed police officers. Defendants of the drug pointed out however that in many instances, the user combined the drug with alcohol, which is against the warnings of the drug.

The purpose of the article in my opinion was to enlighten the public and warn possible users of the drug of possible side effects.

In order to give this article some credibility, the article used reported cases involving Ambien users within a time frame and how it is increasing .To further bring emotions out; a graph was included to show how the drug is becoming more used. Using this type of method is effective in presenting the up rise is incidents involving Ambien. It gives the reader a sense that this drug may need more research. I believe this presentation was very well structured against the drug by having numerous case studies. Overall I believe that the cases presented had little weight on the effects the drug causes. Out of 26 plus million users, only a few hundred have seen the side effects and out of those users, a majority of them went against warnings and used alcohol simultaneously.