Driving Under The Influence

This morning, while getting ready, I heard a very disturbing report about drivers under the influence of Ambien, the popular sleep aid. While the fact that care needed to be taken with this medication was clear to me from their ads (see the bottom of their website), I was surprised by how frequently these warnings appear to be ignored.

The report was on ABC's Good Morning America and the written version is here.

Side effects exist with almost any drug, but this side effect is particularly dangerous. Doctors and pharmacists must take great care to counsel patients about this risk when prescibing/filling a prescription for this medication.