Genghis Khan, Mongolian warrior-ruler and one of the most famous conquerors in history earned his legacy through the utter domination of civilizations across Asia to the Adriatic Sea.
A revolutionary genetics study back in 2003 uncovered the inconvenient truth that 1 in every 200 males on Earth carries Khan’s DNA as a direct descendant. That is 16,000,000 males alive right now related to the ruthless leader of the infamous Mongol empire even though the man lived and died over 750 years ago.
In order to taint that many bloodlines, Genghis Khan is said to have overseen the deaths of as many as 40,000,000 people and while he was laying siege to one capital after another, the dude was also apparently laying mad pipe. A man of few words, but literally a shitload of fucks to give, Khan was once quoted saying, “The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms.”
These days, the most malevolent mass murderers come in pill form, prescribed by doctors, and sold as manmade solutions to age-old problems like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress, to name just a few, slowly killing millions.
It took nearly a millennium – and an unthinkable level of rape and pillage – for Genghis Khan’s seed to spread to 0.5% of male Earthlings, but since the popular prescription benzodiazepine Xanax was brought to market in 1981, it has put the ol’ Mongol to shame when it comes to how many people it has fucked and how prevalent it has become in the bloodstream of the mainstream.
A study published late last year in the peer-reviewed Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis shockingly revealed that Now, admittedly, the sample size was small and limited in its scope as it was not the purpose of the research to shine a light on America’s pill problem… but there is a problem.
A 2018 nationwide survey sounded the alarm bell on Xanax as 13% of respondents admitted to using benzos within the past year. This is more than double the rate of admitted use reported in a similar survey completed in 2014.
Benzo-related overdose deaths between 1999 and 2015, spiking from 1,135 to 8,791 deaths, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
While woke lawmakers are hunting down juicy settlements from embattled opioid pushers, they continue to miss the link between the two killers. Roughly a third of opioid-related overdoses also involve benzos, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Xanax, of course, is the most widely prescribed benzodiazepine.
Benzo prescriptions have risen 67% in recent years and sales are expected to reach an all-time high of $3.8 billion this year. 70% of teens who use benzos are getting them from their family’s medicine cabinet. So, suddenly it’s not so hard to believe that it may be proliferating throughout Americans’ innards in increasing frequency.
72% though? Who knows? What we do know is that more and more people are openly admitting their benzo use to a stranger taking a poll and that’s a little scary.
Luckily, there is a better, safer way to treat anxiety.
I personally cannot help but think about it anytime I am on a busy road. Xanax is one of the Top 10 most prescribed drugs in America and according to the Journal of Drug Safety, the risk of being involved in an auto accident increases by 60 to 80 percent for people driving under its influence. Here we all are, flying down the freeway at 65mph and at least 1 outta 10 drivers surrounding me is looped on this shit.
Despite the meteoric rise in Xanax-related prescriptions, accidents, overdoses and deaths in recent years, law enforcement agencies across the country are hoping instead to cash in on new DUI technology aimed at sniffing out consumers of perfectly legal cannabis who happen to be behind the wheel.
For my entire adult life, cops used the simple excuse that they smelled pot to yank us out of our cars and shake us down. That policy is rightfully eroding across the country thanks to cannabis reform but now cops are investing taxpayer dollars in new roadside tests that hope to use biology to determine sobriety. Soon, drivers will be subjected to saliva swabs and stupid memory games to determine if they are too impaired by marijuana to operate a motor vehicle. These tests will absolutely be inaccurate, unfair, and ripe for shredding in a court of law, but that isn’t stopping cops and corporations from blowing millions of dollars to provide sure-to-fail solutions for a problem that doesn’t exist.
Yes, it is possible to consume too much cannabis to the point where you should not drive just like you can drink too much alcohol and should not drive or stay up too late reading the bible and should not drive – as adults we have to take personal responsibility at some point. The problem with some of these heavily sedative pharmaceutical drugs like Xanax is that it is far too easy to “black out” mentally. Hell, it’s a feature, not a bug for these drugs.
So-called breathalyzer tests for booze or for weed are not made to detect prescription pills. Further analysis of blood, saliva, or urine can reveal detectable levels of benzos in a driver’s system but the vast majority of people who test positive for these drugs display levels consistent with prescribed dosages. The problem is the prescribed dosage is meant to sedate the person who takes it which is hardly conducive to safe driving.
Until they figure out a way to police the pillheads, they can shut the fuck up about the potheads.
Virtually all prescription pills have some form of legitimate medicinal use and Xanax/benzos are no different. We do not disparage anyone who is using this medication responsibly although we strongly encourage healthier alternatives if possible. Quitting benzos like Xanax can be a very turbulent experience and it is a smart move to seek help to make a smooth transition.
You can call:
1-800-662-HELP (4357)
24 hours a day, 365 days a year to find that help
