Do you feel that?
That doubt and dread and worry?
That’s anxiety - and lucky for you, there’s a pill for that.
It’s called Xanax. And it works. Really well. And really fast.
Prescribed for panic attacks and anxiety, one dose of Xanax usually kicks in within 15 or 30 minutes. Just like that, you get a sense of calm and your concerns fall away. It’s not a high; more like the opposite. You feel relaxed, your brain stops racing. It does the trick.
Which is why Xanax is also super dangerous. Because of how well it works, and the way it works, Xanax is highly addictive. It brings such relief that one pill every once in a while turns into a little nibble every night. It tricks people into thinking that their concerns and worries can disappear with just one dose. Which is why Xanax is among the most counterfeited and abused drugs in the world right now.
In writing this episode, I started thinking that Xanax was a perfectly fine drug that is sometimes a problem. But as I dug in, I realized that Xanax, like all benzodiazepines, is a trickster. It promises to be an easy, even fun way to push our anxiety aside. But as much as it brings relief, it also brings consequences - which can turn deadly.
In this episode of Drug Story, we look at the idea of anxiety as a disease - a common human problem that can become, for some, a treatable condition. And we consider what “treatment” means, for good and for bad.
