Someone took a fake prescription into a pharmacy in northern Taiwan on Nov. 17 and walked away with a three-month supply of the controlled sleep medication zolpidem, or about 300 tablets, media reports said.
Police eventually apprehended the people behind the scam. However, what first appears to be a simple case of fraud is actually symptomatic of the broader problem of sleeping pill abuse in Taiwan.
With more than 23 million residents, Taiwan is ranked 57th in the world in terms of population, but the number of benzodiazepines taken by Taiwanese is startling.
National Health Research Institutes data show that from 2011 to 2019, Taiwan annually ranked between sixth and 10th in terms of benzodiazepine use, while a National Health Insurance Administration report on drug use found that doctors in Taiwan last year prescribed more than 143 million doses of zolpidem, the most commonly used sleep medication, and that prescriptions for other kinds of benzodiazepine exceeded 950 million doses.
Benzodiazepines are an effective medication, but long-term use can lead to addiction, drug resistance and eventual dependence.
Certain groups — for example, older people, pregnant women and those with chronic disease — are at a particularly high risk of developing adverse reactions to the drug.
People should consult with a medical specialist or seek advice from a pharmacist to avoid harming themselves when taking the drug, or they might be subject to forgetfulness, sleepwalking, traffic accidents, falling, respiratory problems, depression or suicide due to side effects when taking benzodiazepines in combination with other medications, along with the social problems that these can lead to.
The government should take the abuse of sleep medication seriously. In addition to informing the public about how to correctly use the medication, doctors must take more care when prescribing sleeping pills, and complement them with specialist interventions and pharmacist consultations.
If everyone works together, perhaps Taiwan’s rather ignominious world ranking would improve.
Ciou Jian-ciang is vice secretary-general of the Federation of Taiwan Pharmacists’ Associations.
Translated by Paul Cooper
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long been a cornerstone of US foreign policy, advancing not only humanitarian aid but also the US’ strategic interests worldwide. The abrupt dismantling of USAID under US President Donald Trump ‘s administration represents a profound miscalculation with dire consequences for global influence, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. By withdrawing USAID’s presence, Washington is creating a vacuum that China is eager to fill, a shift that will directly weaken Taiwan’s international position while emboldening Beijing’s efforts to isolate Taipei. USAID has been a crucial player in countering China’s global expansion, particularly in regions where
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
With the manipulations of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), it is no surprise that this year’s budget plan would make government operations difficult. The KMT and the TPP passing malicious legislation in the past year has caused public ire to accumulate, with the pressure about to erupt like a volcano. Civic groups have successively backed recall petition drives and public consensus has reached a fever-pitch, with no let up during the long Lunar New Year holiday. The ire has even breached the mindsets of former staunch KMT and TPP supporters. Most Taiwanese have vowed to use
Despite the steady modernization of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the international community is skeptical of its warfare capabilities. Late last month, US think tank RAND Corp published two reports revealing the PLA’s two greatest hurdles: personnel challenges and structural difficulties. The first RAND report, by Jennie W. Wenger, titled Factors Shaping the Future of China’s Military, analyzes the PLA’s obstacles with recruitment, stating that China has long been committed to attracting young talent from top universities to augment the PLA’s modernization needs. However, the plan has two major constraints: demographic changes and the adaptability of the PLA’s military culture.