Word: halcion
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...When Halcion was first approved for sale in the U.S. in 1982, doctors thought they had found the perfect sleeping pill. Like its chemical cousins Librium and Valium, it was safer than barbiturates. As an added bonus, Halcion did not linger in the body the way most of its predecessors did, and therefore it did not leave people groggy the next day. Within a few years, the drug, produced by Upjohn of Kalamazoo, Mich., became the most prescribed sleeping pill in the world. In 1990 American pharmacists filled more than 7 million orders. Satisfied customers include Secretary of State James...
Like most drugs, however, Halcion has a dark side after all. In the mid- 1980s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began receiving more and more reports of side effects from the drug -- everything from amnesia to agitation. The increase could be explained by the rising number of people taking Halcion, but the drug got some bad publicity when a Utah woman killed her mother while on Halcion and sued the manufacturer. Upjohn settled the case out of court, all the while denying that the drug was to blame for the murder...
...Halcion is facing its most serious challenge yet. Last week the British Department of Health banned sales of the drug in Britain, citing new evidence that the pill "is associated with a much higher frequency of side effects, particularly memory loss and depression," than similar medications. Soon afterward, the FDA promised to take a much closer look at the drug...
...past six months. Business is also booming at the Massachusetts Psychological Association referral service, where out-of-work lawyers and former bond salesmen seek help in coping with stress, anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Drugstores in the region report brisk sales in Tagamet (for ulcers), Prozac (depression) and Halcion (insomnia...
Unemployment is climbing and inflation rising, but sales of Halcion (for insomnia) and Prozac (depression) are brisk. When the economy slumps, so does the national psyche...