Xanax and Alcohol: A Deadly Combination

Xanax and Alcohol: A Deadly Combination


In recent years, as the use of prescription medication has proliferated in the United States, so too have the abuse of and overdose from many of these substances.

Prescription-drug abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in the U.S., says a report issued last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same report states that in 2007, there were roughly 27,000 unintentional deaths from drug overdoses—or one death every 19 minutes.

But of all the things that people ingest, there are few combinations more life-threatening than alcohol and Xanax, a benzodiazepine in the class of sedatives such as Valium and Klonopin.

What Makes Xanax and Alcohol a Deadly Combination?

When taken together, Xanax and alcohol have what’s known as an additive effect, which means that in the presence of Xanax, alcohol is made more potent than it would be alone.

Both Xanax and alcohol work by depressing the central nervous system of the body, reducing the activity of several mental functions, such as thought, memory, coordination, and respiration.

Alcohol alone doesn’t have that limit, because often times people will pass out before they drink enough alcohol for it to be lethal. When you take the two together and you have a totally different picture – Xanax and Alcohol: a deadly combination.

Prescription drugs and alcohol can be a dangerous combination. Alcohol interacts with anti-anxiety drugs such as Xanax, intensifying the drugs’ sedative effects, causing drowsiness and dizziness, and making falls and accidents more likely. A 2010 study published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health reported that automobile drivers were much more likely to weave and speed if they were under the influence of drugs like Xanax in addition to alcohol than if they had consumed alcohol alone.

How it Works

Your usual three drinks is actually like drinking six. And because of the additive effect of combining the two substances, it becomes impossible to know just how your body will absorb the alcohol you’ve ingested. Throw in other factors—sleep deprivation, an empty stomach, a cold—and the mixture is made all the more unpredictable and deadly.

Xanax and alcohol is the most deadly combination because it can cause amnesia. So not only is it does this combination affect respiratory function, the amnesic effect it causes is just as deadly. People die accidentally in the truest sense of the word: they don’t remember how many drinks they had, or how many pills they took.

 Why Xanax, in particular

In fact, it is this same rapid action that makes Xanax the most addictive of the benzodiazepines, many neuroscientists believe, providing the sensation of a high more so than other drugs of its class.

Other people start taking prescription drugs just to get high, perhaps in part because they have the false notion that prescription drugs are safer to experiment with than are illicit drugs.

Any benzodiazepine is highly dangerous in combination with alcohol, but Xanax is perhaps the most dangerous, because it is more fast-acting than the others. Because Xanax and alcohol both work on the brain at a rapid-fire pace, their mutually enhancing effect is bolstered compared to slower-acting benzodiazepines, which peaks in the brain more slowly, after the effect of the alcohol may have already begun to decline.

 

 

 

Sources:

http://www.thedailybeast.com

http://www.cdc.gov/

http://www.scientificamerican.com

 

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

‘Play Safe’ Documentary Shows How to Prevent Overdose and Hangovers

Play Safe

Play Safe

[Image Source: Chicago Tribune ]

“People were harmed during the making of this film, but without that sacrifice we’d have nothing” – Eddie Einbinder, Play Safe –

In the public school system, sex education is taught to teach children about the human reproductive system. In sex Ed we’re taught what sex is and how to practice it safely. What if we had to take a “Drug Ed” course in which we were shown what drugs were and how to practice using them safely? Wouldn’t that be a bit extreme? Not according to Eddie Einbinder.

Drug abuse in American is not a new concept and has fluctuated with the state of the economy. Every couple of years we start to battle a new drug, like cocaine and crack in the 80’s and prescription drug abuse in 2012. With every threat against humanity we must prepare solutions in prevention, education and treatment. Drug abuse is no different, but the methods used to prevent, educate and treat it are always a hot subject of debate.

Eddie Einbinder of New York is a crusader of sorts on harm reduction in drug use. After some of his college friends overdosed on various substances he decided to do something to bring awareness to drug use. Mr. Einbinder believes that people who want to try drugs are going to do it no matter what so why not educate everyone on the good, the bad, the ugly and how to use and prevent overdosing or a mean hangover. Is this, “how to use drugs safely” motto the way to go about spreading knowledge of drug abuse? Scare tactics have been used for many years to warn people of the dangers of drug abuse but those who’ve already become addicted do not “fear” the consequences. In the face of total loss of family, friends, work, social life, and health addicts will continue to use. So now we’re all left to wonder if this new way of awareness could work. What do you think?

Although Play Safe doesn’t seem to be out on the Internet for everyone to see, the trailer itself offers a snippet of what the viewer can expect to see.  According to the end of the trailer, Play Safe will feature people using the following drugs: Mushrooms, Ketamine, Marijuana, Nitrous, Cocaine, LSD, MDMA, Salvia, Heroin, Oxycontin, Tobacco, Meth, DMT, Adderall, and Alcohol.

Play Safe Trailer
GRAPHIC IMAGES AND REAL LIFE DRUG USE FEATURED IN THIS FILM. WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.

SOURCE: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-x-0523-drugs-education-keilman-20120523,0,2453593.story

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.