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Sleeping drug prescribed by NHS linked to risk of committing crime (1 December 2014)

Date: 01/12/2014
Duncan Lewis, Crime Solicitors, Sleeping drug prescribed by NHS linked to risk of committing crime

A sleeping pill prescribed by the NHS to around 750,000 patients could result in patients committing crimes.

The Daily Mail reports that the sleeping pill Zolpidem has been implicated in rapes, murders and robberies, as well as patients found sleep-driving after taking it to cure insomnia.

It is reported that most people who had taken the drug and committed offences had no recollection of what they had done.

US organisation Sleep Forensic Associates says that the drug affects individuals who take it because one part of the brain is responsible for complex activities such as driving or cooking and the other involves memory. The drug allows the part of the brain involved in complex activities to remain awake, while the area of brain governing memory remains “asleep”. The drug works by reducing the electrical activity in the brain.

Neurologist Professor Mark Mahowald of the University of Minnesota Medical School and Sleep Forensic Associates said:

“In sleep-driving, for example, people take the drug, go to bed – and then wake up in the car with their pyjamas on.
“When the police pull them over, they do not know how they got there.

“One of the difficulties in advising people about taking the drug is that it is effective – and there does not seem to be any way of identifying people at risk of these uncommon side effects.”

Zolpidem has also been linked to increased risk of dementia, heart problems and nocturnal eating problems – but it was introduced to replace more powerful sleeping drugs and anti-anxiety medications such as Valium, a benzodiazepine which is highly addictive.

However, Zolpidem is so powerful that some doctors recommend patients secure windows and get into bed before taking it.

In the US, since 2006, out of 82 criminal cases in which patients claimed they were under the influence of the drug while committing offences, 79 of the defendants were acquitted of charges. Patients taking Zolpidem have been known to make phone calls, eat meals and even engage in sexual activity with no memory of the events.

In Buenos Aires, researchers say patients who snacked during the night while asleep after taking the drug only realised they had been sleep-eating because they found crumbs in the bed the next morning.

Most powerful sleeping drugs are only prescribed for a short period of time – usually two weeks – including the popular sleeping drug Temazepam, which is also highly addictive and is used as an anti-anxiety treatment and anaesthetic.

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