Thai Government Bans Xanax

[Psych01]

@ukrules, just a little article from the US. Date Rape drugs.

[Tywais]

your body is made 100% out of "chemicals"

The first time I hear in my life, that my body is made 100% out of chemicals. Maybe you used chemo, than your body will be poisened with chemicals. But maybe better put this nonsens somewhere else.

May want to take a refresher course in Biology and Chemistry.

"contains at least detectable traces of 60 chemical elements. About 24 or 25 of these elements are thought to play an active positive role in life and health in humans" Source

"This is the elemental chemical composition of the average adult human body. Water is the most abundant chemical compound in living human cells, accounting for 65-90% of each cell." More breakdown here

[Briggsy]

There is some other background story here. It could be that Xanax is being widely misused as a recreational drug.

The big players in this market including the booze producers and the amphetamine kingpins in uniform and other very senior positions will truck no competition in this country.

Something does not ring true here.

[simple1]

Xanax is abused, but as far as I know not for date rape. That's new to me. It is used (abused) here for it speed effects by students up late cramming for test and teenagers mostly, I think.

It's not a date rape drug, they use much more powerful powdered barbituates for things like knocking people out in bars. If you're drugged and robbed in a bar someone will have dosed your drink with barbituates.

As for students using it for it's speed effect, that's simply not possible. This drug does the opposite which is why it's often used as a sleeping aid on long haul flights.

The people who will be mostly affected by this will be long term users who use it for anxiety, they will suddenly have a major problem if it's not available any more as they are probably addicted to it but don't realise it. Also their anxiety issues will most likely recur.

I wouldn't expect this to make much difference though, they banned Midazolam a couple of years ago but it's still available in some places although pretty rare. Xanax doesn't work as a sleeping tablet on flights for me so I use Midazolam which works perfectly. These are all in the same class of drugs as Xanax and Valium. They are all benzodiazepenes.

The banning of the cold medicine pseudoephedrine in Thailand widely known as the brand 'sudafed' in the UK really annoyed me as it was a very good decongestant which I always used when I had a cold. Of course you can still buy it in some pharmacies throughout Thailand if you look around. They banned it as the active ingredient can be used in the manufacture of some illicit drugs.

They banned cold tablets using pseudoephedrine as it is was used as the precursor for YaBa and ICE that causes big problems in Thailand. It was being imported in the billions from places like China and shipped to border labs for processing. Police are constantly being identified and members arrested as one of main distributor networks in Thailand.

[PoodMaiDai]

To put this into perspective,,,,

Prostitution = illegal

Child Prostitution = illegal

Yaabaa (and other drugs) = illegal

Corruption = illegal

Extortion = illegal

Driving Without A License = illegal

Sex Toys = Illegal

Smoking indoors = illegal

Viagra = Until recently was illegal

Nothing to worry about folks. Just add xanax this list and smile every time you buy a pack from your local pharmacy. Xanax is not going anywhere.

[PoodMaiDai]

There is some other background story here. It could be that Xanax is being widely misused as a recreational drug.

The big players in this market including the booze producers and the amphetamine kingpins in uniform and other very senior positions will truck no competition in this country.

Something does not ring true here.

Perhaps a Thai company is about to release Thanax and needs Pfizer out of the way, like Est did to Pepsi.

[Psych01]

There is a trend here, as @PoodMaiDai, mentions above. What is the saying? Laws/rules and broken is my favourite for here, then there are these too, Jonathan Swift, Aesop and Christopher North. Lets make another hub.

[thhMan]

Uh Oh....

I am BiPolar 1 and I use it to keep my anxiety in check... Most times I can get through an episode, but other times, the stress and lack of sleep is too much, so I pop one just to bring things back to normal...

dam_n It... this sucks!

[CecilEugene]

date rape drug?

my god, you'd have to chew a handful to make that work, no?

Same should be done in the US. Do a crime with a weapon no matter if it is a knife or gun get an extra 15 years non parole eligible added on to what ever the crime is.

Money don't grow on trees. Who is going to pay for the extra jail time. We have more people in jail in the US than any other country. And it is breaking the bank. Every person in jail is a tax payer's burden.

Edited February 7, 2013 by CecilEugene

[sunshine51]

It may be banned on paper...but the local chemists still have it &

perhaps always will. Hell...everybody needs a nap now & then.

[Jim walker]

Overall banning something must be good for government’s popularity ratings, so there must be some real Thai logic behind this ban.

[Yahooka]

They stopped over the counter sales - you can have a script or get it in Thailand from your Doc. over the counter shops must return the supplies - it is a controlled med not a banned one.

It was never an OTC drug, you always needed a script. If it was sold to you without a script its because you aren't Thai. To the seller there's less chance of them getting busted.

Foreigners have better access to drugs in Thailand than Thais do.

Agreed.Try to get an hold on Xanax,valium and Tramadol in an city without farang presence,tough luck.In fact this drugs will get you in trouble if your caught with them,too.Illegal without an prescription !!

[MunterHunter]

your body is made 100% out of "chemicals"

The first time I hear in my life, that my body is made 100% out of chemicals. Maybe you used chemo, than your body will be poisened with chemicals. But maybe better put this nonsens somewhere else.

May want to take a refresher course in Biology and Chemistry.

"contains at least detectable traces of 60 chemical elements. About 24 or 25 of these elements are thought to play an active positive role in life and health in humans" Source

"This is the elemental chemical composition of the average adult human body. Water is the most abundant chemical compound in living human cells, accounting for 65-90% of each cell." More breakdown here

We are carbon based life forms... carbon is a chemical

[Amras]

I agree with the Thai government, as much as possible of these chemical shit products from Pfizer and similar companies must be banned. Chemicals in your body can never give you any benifit.

This sort of comment always baffles me - your body is made 100% out of "chemicals" - and even if you were to narrow it to "exogenous chemicals" then I would just have to wonder if you plan to never eat or drink anything.

Your body is not made of of synthetic chemicals. Therein lies the difference. Drugs of any description are usually a bandaid for the symptom rather than treat the causes. Drugs are usually modified natural substances and every man-made drug bar none, has toxic side effects. Can't see how anyone defends this shit (any drugs).

Bandaid? Maybe, in theory. But drugs often help alleviate symptoms while you can at the same time find the source of the issue. You can't eliminate stress from your life overnight, nor money issues, anxiety etc, but stuff like this helps you get it together so that you can then work on the underlying issues.

Drugs (pharmaceutical) always have potential side effects and every chemical in the world has a toxicity (every chemical has an LD50, it's lethal dose to 50% of the test group) water included.

Drugs are bad when abused or when people become reliant on them. Some people do have no choice though, as correcting faulty brain chemistry is not something that can be done by pure will. As has been said, Thailand is so far behind the mental health issue it's not funny. They are afraid of being called crazy if you need to see a pshychologist/psychiatrist and knee jerk reactions like this just add to the issue.

For most Thai's they don't believe mental issues exist and the people are crazy, add to that there 'war on drugs' and these things are just never thought through properly.

[banglassie]

date rape drug?

my god, you'd have to chew a handful to make that work, no?

not if you put them in a drink booze and Xanax not a good mix. Take it from one who knows.

The problem with these pills is that they do do what they are supposed to do. However, as you cannot control the crime from them you have to ban them.

Before you jump all over the Thai government look what they are trying to do with guns in the US.

Again hunting is a good thing. Having a gun is not a bad thing. Making people that are law abiding go through hoops while there is o control over the criminals is stupid.

People are still going to bring the drugs into the country.

The Thai government should put a ban on the drugs with a 10 year penalty plus time for the trafficking added on in Bangkok Hilton.

Same should be done in the US. Do a crime with a weapon no matter if it is a knife or gun get an extra 15 years non parole eligible added on to what ever the crime is.

Then just outlaw booze.

It takes days to feel the affects of Xanax for the new prescriber.

No it doesn't....

Xanax is a benzodiazepinem, and as such reacts instantly. You probably think about any of the SSRI, SNRI (like prozac) that is often prescribed for depression.

Xanax and all the other -zepams and -zolams are prescribed for instant panic attacs and anxiety. And have a similar reaction on the GABA system in our bodies like Alcohol or GHB etc.

It simply makes u brain dead and makes you not really care anymore. Shuts down the moral and all inhibitions. Makes you a complete jerk if you eat too many... These medications are not good anywhere... They are also very addictive, many even say they are harder to quit than Heroin for example due to the extreme long time it takes to get rid of them after been on them for an extent period of time.

I do however think they are useful for some, and therefore should not be banned by any big brother institute... But it's no surprise this happens in Thailand, more a surprise it didn't happen before.

For all I know Xanax as well as Valium are illegal in Thailand unless you go to a hospital and get it the hospital pharmacy under a prescription.

Well, that doesn't stop it from being in next to every pharmacy on the tourist islands like Samui, Phangan and Phuket.. And I don't think this will stop that as well.

[inthepink]

They stopped over the counter sales - you can have a script or get it in Thailand from your Doc. over the counter shops must return the supplies - it is a controlled med not a banned one.

It was never an OTC drug, you always needed a script. If it was sold to you without a script its because you aren't Thai. To the seller there's less chance of them getting busted.

Foreigners have better access to drugs in Thailand than Thais do.

Agreed.Try to get an hold on Xanax,valium and Tramadol in an city without farang presence,tough luck.In fact this drugs will get you in trouble if your caught with them,too.Illegal without an prescription !!

Diazepam is available from clinics in the middle of nowhere, so this is rubbish - unless you are referring to the black market alone (even then it is sold to Thai people under the counter in small rural towns). Re. what an earlier poster said, it certainly hasn't been banned. It is available on prescription from hospital doctors, the same as many other medicines in Thailand. I'm not sure why anybody would think it should be available without a prescription though. Edited February 7, 2013 by inthepink

[orang37]

I think Khun AartLiberty was on the right track when he said:

"Chemicals in your body can never give you any benifit."

Thus Wikipedia spake: http://en.wikipedia...._the_human_body :

The composition of the human body can be looked at from the point of view of either mass composition, or atomic composition. To illustrate both views, the human body is ~70% water, and water is ~11% hydrogen bymass but ~67% hydrogen by atomic percent. Thus, most of the mass of the human body is oxygen, but most of the atoms in the human body are hydrogen atoms. Both mass-composition and atomic composition figures are given below.

Almost 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of the six elements oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All are necessary to life. The remaining elements are trace elements, of which more than a dozen are thought to be necessary for life, or play an active role in health (e.g., fluorine, which hardens dental enamel but seems to have no other function).

Since the hallucinatory fiction of a physical body, in a linear temporal existence, we experience as "our self," is made of chemicals, it is useless to continue what we commonly refer to as: "living." Whether physical death is sufficient to cease the illusion of physical incarnation in a "body," I do not know, and I doubt I will ever know, but I believe many expats in Amazing T. are already living as if dead, so suicide may make little difference.

yrs, ~o:37;

Edited February 7, 2013 by orang37

[jaideeguy]

Thai govmt says 'Xanax is a date rape drug'......

BS!! I've been taking Xanax for years and I have never been raped!

There are much more effective date rape drugs than Xanax, like most of the barbituates and a few years ago, there were incidences where some 'naughty' girls were smearing it their nipples and knocking the victim out and robbing him/her.

The most common 'date rape drug' we all know is [demon] ALCOHOL, so ban that if you want to stop date rape!!

Edited February 7, 2013 by jaideeguy

[RogueLeader]

date rape drug?

my god, you'd have to chew a handful to make that work, no?

not if you put them in a drink booze and Xanax not a good mix. Take it from one who knows.

The problem with these pills is that they do do what they are supposed to do. However, as you cannot control the crime from them you have to ban them.

Before you jump all over the Thai government look what they are trying to do with guns in the US.

Again hunting is a good thing. Having a gun is not a bad thing. Making people that are law abiding go through hoops while there is o control over the criminals is stupid.

People are still going to bring the drugs into the country.

The Thai government should put a ban on the drugs with a 10 year penalty plus time for the trafficking added on in Bangkok Hilton.

Same should be done in the US. Do a crime with a weapon no matter if it is a knife or gun get an extra 15 years non parole eligible added on to what ever the crime is.

Then just outlaw booze.

It takes days to feel the affects of Xanax for the new prescriber.

While you do have a point, Xanax is a benzodiazepine and really is an exceedingly dangerous drug. I don't believe that it should be illegal, its destructive effects shouldn't be underestimated: withdrawal symptoms can last 12+ months and include psychotic episodes. Dependence can occur after as little as 4 weeks' use.

Don't underestimate the risks of this drug.

And it doesn't take days to feel the effect - it takes minutes. It's a short-acting benzo which renders the user completely unconscious for about an hour, after which natural sleep has set in.

Edited February 7, 2013 by RogueLeader

[warfie]

If Xanax is a date rape drug, then my car is a weapon of mass destruction...

[warfie]

I agree with the Thai government, as much as possible of these chemical shit products from Pfizer and similar companies must be banned. Chemicals in your body can never give you any benifit.

So, when will you be giving up oxygen?

[jaideeguy]

Wikipedia says......

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome—often abbreviated to benzo withdrawal—is the cluster of symptoms that emerge when a person who has taken benzodiazepines has developed a physical dependence and undergoes dosage reduction or discontinuation. It is characterized by often severe sleep disturbance, irritability, increased tension and anxiety, panic attacks, hand tremor, sweating, difficulty in concentration, confusion and cognitive difficulty, memory problems, dry retching and nausea, weight loss, palpitations, headache, muscular pain and stiffness, a host of perceptual changes, hallucinations, seizures, psychosis,^[1] and suicide^[2] (see "Signs and Symptoms" section below for full list). Further, these symptoms are notable for the manner in which they wax and wane and vary in severity from day to day or week by week instead of steadily decreasing in a straightforward linear manner.^[3]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal is similar to alcohol and barbiturate withdrawal syndromes.^[13] It can be severe and provoke life-threatening withdrawal symptoms, such as seizures,^[14] particularly with abrupt or over-rapid dosage reduction from high doses or long time users.^[4]

[indyuk]

dam_n - what will I used to assist with sleeping on a flight now ?

Try Tramodol 50mg Every 8 hours, (No Alchol) works a treat also reduces restless leg syndrome :-)

[animatic]

"has been used as a date rape drug, contributing to a growing number of sex crimes"

where is the logic? knives are used to stab people, ban knives, stones were used to knock people on the head, ban stones.....

hey....you are not that crazy..........just saying.

Of course ALCOHOL is MUCH more responsible for date rapes in Thailand

[peterbkk9]

What a stupid decision. What a ridiculous motive. Why dont they ban asbestos instead?

Edited February 7, 2013 by peterbkk9

[KuhnPaen]

I guess it's back to witchdoctors again. Thais were never really big on mental health care anyway. Anxiety is really caused by an unhappy ghost that you pissed off somehow. Solution is--give it a bottle of Johnny Walker and some candy. There--your anxiety is now gone.

[remobb]

What a shame, I use this on rare occasions when I need that bit of extra sleep. Guess I will have to get me some before it's too late. 10 pills last me a year at least.

[phantomfiddler]

The sale of bottled water is to be made illegal next month, following a government survey revealing that 100% of sex criminals drank it on a regular basis

[seancbk]

People's anxiety just shot through the roof!

Especially the rapists!

[kimamey]

I agree with the Thai government, as much as possible of these chemical shit products from Pfizer and similar companies must be banned. Chemicals in your body can never give you any benifit.

This sort of comment always baffles me - your body is made 100% out of "chemicals" - and even if you were to narrow it to "exogenous chemicals" then I would just have to wonder if you plan to never eat or drink anything.

Your body is not made of of synthetic chemicals. Therein lies the difference. Drugs of any description are usually a bandaid for the symptom rather than treat the causes. Drugs are usually modified natural substances and every man-made drug bar none, has toxic side effects. Can't see how anyone defends this shit (any drugs).

Actually, I wasn't "defending drugs" - just responding to the absurd claim that you would be better off with "no chemicals" in your body. No synthetic chemicals is more defensible, but it rather depends on what you mean by synthetic - does burning hydrogen in air produce synthetic water, does reacting hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide produce synthetic salt and is the ascorbic acid produced via bacterial fermentation synthetic Vitamin C. On a purely mechanistic basis the answer to all three is obviously yes; but in all three cases you could take the product and it would be impossible to distinguish between it and a pure sample of the "natural" product.

This is just small minded opposition to pharmaceutical companies as far as I can see. Yes they sometimes let their quest for profit cloud their judgement which is why there needs to be strict safeguards in place. The same can be said for example regarding Chinese medicines. In the UK and I suspect other countries as well there are often dangerous illegal Chinese medicines confiscated. Not all are bad obviously but the people who sell them often have no idea if they are dangerous and even if they do they ignore it. Many illegal addictive drugs are natural as well.

Life expectancy has increased due to modern medicines. China as an example is now seeing increased number of cancer sufferers because they are now using western medicines which mean they are now living long enough to get cancer which they weren't before. Obviously there are other reasons as well like smoking and the poor environment.

Modern medicines will always be bad for you if they are not taken sensibly and addiction, both chemical and emotional is a possibility with some such as anti depressants. It's worth bearing in mind that water will kill you if you drink too much.

Drugs can simply be a way of controlling a symptom in the short term to give time for longer term solutions and this is often the case with anti depressants. Whether some of these drugs should be prescription only rather than being available over the counter is another matter.

I think the use of the word 'shit' to describe medicines of this sort shows there isn't much reasoned thought behind these accusations.