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
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