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Is Klonopin the World’s Deadliest Prescription Drug?

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It can be very easy to get into trouble with certain prescription drugs. After all, how harmful could something that your doctor gives to you be? However, millions of Americans become addicted to prescription drugs every year. The potential health problems associated with prescription drug abuse are as vast as they are dangerous. When most people think about dangerous prescription drugs, they think about Oxycontin or Xanax. While these drugs are certainly dangerous, there is another dangerous prescription drug on the market that doesn't seem to get too much attention, its called Klonopin.

Clonazepam

Klonopin is a brand name for a drug known as clonazepam. It was first introduced to the public in 1975 as a way to medicate epileptic seizures. In the years since it came out, it has become one of the most widely abused prescription drugs on the market. People who abuse Klonopin describe getting an increased sense of energy and euphoria. However, these feelings are often times followed by many horrible side effects including anxiety or paralysis.

Those Most At Risk

Klonopin clearly states, on it's label, that it is only meant to be taken for a short period of time. In theory, the drug will help an individual deal with the stresses and physical pains of withdrawal. However, many people simply substitute and end up trading one addiction for another. This results in many catastrophic health consequences. When a person increases their dosage and usage levels of the drug, they become accustomed to getting the high they receive. In many cases doctors exacerbate the problem by continuing to prescribe Klonopin to people who no longer need it.

Benzodiazepines

Klonopin is classified as a benzodiazepine. Every year in hospitals around the country, more people are admitted for benzodiazepine overdoses than all other illegal drugs combined. In fact, for every person that is admitted to a hospital for a problem involving illegal street drugs, three people are admitted for issues involving benzodiazepine. The reason so many people develop an addiction to these types of drugs is because of how dramatically they alter a person’s brain chemistry. Even for scientists, the brain is a very complex and difficult to understand. When you start giving your brain these drugs on a regular basis, it is anybody’s guess what is going to happen in regards to long term health.

One of the main problems in dealing with Klonopin addiction is the physicians who continue to recklessly prescribe them. In addition,  some doctors are financially incentivized by pharmaceutical companies to continue prescribing their products as much as they can. Thankfully, this problem is beginning to be addressed. The new healthcare bill, currently in litigation, would provide for more transparency between doctors and pharmaceutical companies. You would be able to go online, type in a specific doctor’s name, and see if they are on the payroll for any of the major pharmaceutical companies. Until the bill becomes law, or until the public is better educated on the dangers of taking these prescription drugs, we will continue to see an increase in the number of people who develop debilitating addictions to these prescription drugs.




Posted in Industry News | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments
  • http://twitter.com/HickoryWindRnch Hickory Wind Ranch

    I totally agree. 

  • http://twitter.com/HickoryWindRnch Hickory Wind Ranch

    I agree though, klonopin’s potency is most likely necessary in many situations, like seizures, while it’s ease of access is still relatively low. A drug like Vicodin, which is a much weaker pain killer is much more readily available and more commonly prescribed. It’s ease of access makes it pretty dangerous as far as addiction potential, even though the user might have to take more to OD.