The stillnox defence

[fireheart17]

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...7-2682,00.html

Basically, a woman did some weird things and is blaming stillnox for it.

Your thoughts?

(thankfully the comments on this one are non-existent for legal reasons)

[Ree]

It's a pretty potent drug with some serious side effects.
It may seem like shifting blame with that defense, but there may well be validity to it:
Side-effects at any dose may include:

* Anterograde amnesia
* Hallucinations, through all physical senses, of varying intensity
* Delusions
* Altered thought patterns
* Ataxia or poor motor coordination, difficulty maintaining balance[23]
* Euphoria and/or dysphoria
* Increased appetite
* Increased libido
* Amnesia
* Impaired judgment and reasoning
* Uninhibited extroversion in social or interpersonal settings
* Increased impulsivity
* When stopped, rebound insomnia may occur
* Headaches, in some people
* memory loss [some people]

On the other hand, they do warn about driving while taking the drug.

This is from the instructions for Ambien, which is the name the drug is marketed under in the US:

"IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

AMBIEN and AMBIEN CR are treatment options you and your doctor can consider along with lifestyle changes. When taking either of them, don’t drive or operate machinery. Plan to devote 7 to 8 hours to sleep before being active. Sleepwalking, and eating or driving while not fully awake, with memory loss for the event, as well as abnormal behaviors such as being more outgoing or aggressive than normal, confusion, agitation, and hallucinations may occur. "

[Kimmik]

Having taken Ambien I can state that you can do some freaky shit on it. it is icky icky icky... good for sleep disorders but icky icky icky.

[Rapscallion]

At the time of her arrest, Barber was wearing pyjamas and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.091.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content says that the legal limit for drinking is 0.05, so she was nearly twice the limit. The Wikipedia article reckons that it's possible for her blood to be the result of roughly two to three drinks, depending on their strength.

When I did drink, three pints of beer were enough to make me pretty drunk (the main reason I gave up). Depends on her tolerance, but it would take a fair amount of proof to make me think it was anything other than being somewhat inebriated and deciding to do something stupid.

Rapscallion

[fireheart17]

Incidents like this make me so glad that the doctor prescribed Temazepam for me as sleeping pills. Although I was warned to only use them short-term, not long term.

Funnily enough, the antipsychotic med they gave me at the hospital pretty much knocked me out.

[Kimmik]

For me Ambien is eveeeeeeel but Lunesta is worse.. less then 15 min after taking it.. my happy butt better be in bed. I have told friends to get out, according to the hubby I have gotten sorta dressed because I had to go get some weird thing at a store. Yeah he hides the keys if I have to take my Ambien.

I think sometimes the side effects are worse then the problem. If the women was drinking when she took said pill she should be slapped silly.

[crashhelmet]

A friend of mine was on Ambien for a while. One night at like 2am, she was found in her garage, playing in a kiddie pool filled with water, and completely clothed. She was off in her own little world that night and had no other drug or alcohol in her system.

CH