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Toronto Star, 2012: "How anti-anxiety meds are killing celebrities"


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I'm re-posting this excellent Toronto Star article because the headline is so timely -- once again -- unfortunately. Chris Cornell's death has brought the topic back to the fore.

 

This article appeared after Whitney Houston died, but it also refers to other celebrities whose lives ended -- in part -- because of benzodiazepines. I would love to see an updated version of this article with the current statistics, but otherwise, the info is still the same. There's a mention of the Ashton Manual here:

 

"Mixing benzos with opioids, alcohol, Benadryl, major tranquilizers or even other benzos (which may be prescribed if a patient has a damaged liver from substance abuse causing them to require a higher dose of the benzo to get an effect, says Rain) is fatal because, according to the Ashton Manual — the unofficial encyclopedia on benzos — benzos have a synergistic, or additive, effect with these substances."

 

And then there's this particularly pointed paragraph:

 

“When you come off benzodiazepines, it’s as if you are hit with a thousand fold of sounds and smells and light and fear and it’s excruciatingly painful,” Rain says. “I saw more (benzo addicts) leaving treatment (than opioid addicts) because they couldn’t take the withdrawal.”

 

 

https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2012/03/02/how_antianxiety_meds_are_killing_celebrities.html 

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