By Open Door Correspondent “Bernie”
Following on from my last article on Xanax, this time around I decided to look at its American origins. As it was such a new drug to the UK, I assumed the same would be true across The Atlantic. But I was surprised to see that it had been around in the USA since 1981, thirty-seven years ago!! It was created by a company called UpJohn, and although he wrote it several years ago, reporter Matthew Harper reveals some interesting facts about how they marketed it in an article he wrote in 2010.
In a nutshell, as well as using it to treat anxiety, they also targeted sufferers of panic attacks. At the time, this particular area of psychiatry had only just been classified as a diagnosis in its own right. Previously it was considered to be as much a medical problem as a psychiatric one. And Xanax turned out to be very successful in treating panic attacks. So much so in fact, that by 2011 (the latest year for which figures are available) nearly 48,000 prescriptions for Xanax were made by American Doctors. To put this into perspective, that’s roughly one prescription every second. Or put another way, with a population of 312 million in 2011, approximately one in six Americans were being prescribed Xanax.
With this statistic in mind, it’s not altogether surprising that Xanax has found its way into the hands of those for whom it was not intended. Figures for Xanax misuse and overdoses, and subsequent deaths in America as a result are hard to find. But figures for Benzodiazepines are easier to find. Benzodiazepines are the family name for tranquilisers such as Xanax and Valium. Xanax is far and away the most popular of them. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health gives figures for the years 1996 to 2013 and shows a very clear year-on-year rise in the number of deaths attributed to the misuse of Benzodiazepines. A startling rise in fact, from 0.5 per 100,000 adults in 1999, to 3 per 100,000 adults in 2013. That’s a 600% increase.
What it doesn’t tell us is the ages of those involved, and we know from the wealth of anecdotal evidence on the Internet that Xanax has a particular appeal to teenagers. The American National Institute on Drug Abuse recently published a statement that Xanax is the tranquiliser drug most commonly used by grade 12 students in America. The same statement gave the startling statistic that one in ten young adults in America aged between 18 and 25 abuse Xanax. This is a frightening figure, and likely linked to the fact that for Xanax users who take the drug for six weeks or more, 40% will develop a dependency for the drug.
The American rap scene, and its attraction to (and, undoubtedly, its influence on) the youth of the nation, has a high regard for Xanax. On the 5th of February 2018, the New York Magazine published the following appraisal of Xanax use amongst rappers :-
“Cultural connotations: Much like the connection between heroin and grunge rock, Xanax rose to prominence alongside the subgenre of emo-meets-hip-hop called SoundCloud rap, named for the online platform favored by its most prominent artists. Because of the way it reduces tension, restlessness, paranoia, and anxiety, “popping a Xan” has become the signifier of choice for disillusioned musicians checking out of a disappointing world or attempting to transform the hellscape of reality into something more bearable — so much so that SoundCloud rap is also referred to as “sad rap” or “Xanax rap.”
“Notable laureates: If you have “Lil” in your name, there’s a good chance you’ve embraced Xanax: Lil Pump, who marked reaching 1 million Instagram followers with a Xanax-shaped cake; the rapper Lil Xan; and Lil Uzi Vert, who’s featured on the song “Xanax and Percocet.” Another rapper, Lil Peep, died of a fentanyl-tainted-Xanax overdose in November. On the day of his death, he filmed himself saying, “El Paso, I took six Xanax and now it’s lit. I’m good. I’m not sick. I’ma see y’all tonight.” His passing caused Lil Uzi Vert to tweet: “We Would love 2 stop … But Do You Really Care Cause We Been On Xanax All F*****g Year.” At the start of 2018, celebration of the drug seemed to subside, with rappers announcing the end of the pill. “We leaving Xanax in 2017,” Smokepurpp tweeted. Lil Xan has since announced plans to change his name.”
It’s far too early to tell yet whether Xanax abuse amongst young Americans has started to drop off in 2018. But one thing is for sure, with America providing the largest market for unprescribed Xanax in the world, the country’s authorities need to take swift and decisive action if they are to reverse the very worrying trends of abuse amongst the next generation of captains of industry, politicians, parents, teachers, and trend-setters.