After the daughter of Florida governor Jeb Bush was arrested trying to obtain the drug Xanax illegally, the drug has become a hot topic for debate.
Noelle Bush, 24, was arrested last week for posing as a doctor in order to obtain a prescription for Xanax in Tallahassee, Fla.
According to Robyn, a U of M freshman who asked that her last name not be revealed, she has a prescription for Xanax in order to decrease her severe case of anxiety, but said that she does not understand why people take it before going out or drinking alcohol. From what she hears, she said, it is supposed to maximize the effects of alcohol, and gives users a different type of buzz than alcohol alone.
“I would probably do the same thing after having a prescription for (Xanax) for so long,” Robyn said of the Noelle Bush incident.
Xanax is a drug prescribed to decrease anxiety and insomnia. It is a sedative, in the drug class of benzodiazephines, which depress the central nervous system in order to decrease anxiety.
The slang terminology for Xanax is “bars,” “sticks” or “footballs,” and it is sold readily on the street in milligrams. The drug is now so popular that there are even Web sites advertising the illegal sale of Xanax from foreign pharmacies.
Nowadays, people use Xanax as a “party drug,” taking it before going to parties or bars.
Meg, a U of M senior who also asked that her last name not be revealed, said that there are two different kinds of Xanax that people take. The bar form is much stronger than the pill form, she said, and the drug affects users to the point where they lose the ability to reason and think.
“We were drinking one night, someone gave me a Xanax bar and before I knew what it was, I panicked, and by the end of the night I had to ask a friend to take care of me, because I could not take care of myself,” Meg said.
Some people take Xanax as a buffer drug, according to Meg. She said that when some users come off of a “roll,” or an ecstasy pill, they come down hard, and sometimes have anxiety attacks. So they take Xanax to help curb their anxiety.
Dr. Paul Clein, a local psychiatrist, said that he has seen quite a few cases of both Xanax abuse and addiction. Clein said Xanax is probably over-prescribed, and that there are some people who go to the doctor and get a prescription for the drug with no intention of taking it, but intend to sell it instead.
Clein said that the pill can be prescribed in dosages from a quarter of a milligram to two milligrams, and the pill is eight-fold, meaning that patients cut their dosage out of one to two milligram pills.
Some side effects of the drug include dizziness and sleepiness, and it is suggested that those taking Xanax should avoid driving or other activities requiring alertness.
According to the Summer House Web site, a detoxification facility in Florida, Xanax can be extremely addictive and is one of the hardest drugs to detoxify from. Seizures may result from quitting use suddenly.
When beginning to detox, users can experience a range of withdrawal symptoms, including panic attacks, increased anxiety depression and suicidal feelings, muscle cramping, burning patches on the scalp and other parts of the body, sweating, stiff neck and tremors, hot or cold flashes, stomach cramps, nausea, blurred vision and sinus congestion.
It is recommended that people trying to quit taking Xanax get help, in order to avoid some of the side effects associated with the drug, as well as to make the detoxification process a bit easier.
