Abstract: all drugs affect the mind but psychoactive drugs are a specific type of drug that is specifically made to affect the brain’s chemistry in order to correct an imbalance or abnormality. They have many medicinal uses, beneficial to humans, yet people use them recreationally. Former athletes used them primarily for medicinal uses but most soon fell into addiction or abused them on others. They have various effects on us as humans, creating altered states of consciousness that causes us to even forget what we are doing and hurt ourselves. Fortunately, there are rehabilitation centers and drug organizations that help spread awareness and provide drug abuse help.
In January 2012, Former NFL Darren Sharper filed a worker’s compensation claim in California that described health problems including sleep, in which he was given prescription Ambien, a brand name of Zolpidem used to treat insomnia, by his doctor. He was a frequent user, going through 70 pills in 65 days in January 2014 ("Darren Sharper case spotlights sleep drug's dark side", 2014). January 12, 2014, he was found with 20 pills when arrested by Los Angeles officers as a suspect for two rape cases. He is also suspect for at least 4 other cases in various states throughout the United States.
Sharper is not the only person who has turned to Zolpidem for sleep treatment. In fact, he is one of the growing numbers of former and current NFL players who use Zolpidem, even to the point of addiction, just to help them sleep, due to the head injuries gained from playing in the NFL. Although it is not the #1 drug out there, it is “among the top 15, with over 43.8 million prescriptions dispensed every year, according to IMS Health” (Darren Sharper, 2014). The effects of Zolpidem is even more effective than Rohypnol, a precursor insomnia treatment drug, because it has a stronger impact but due to the way it is made to function, it has a short half-life.
Meaning that although the medicine has a stronger...