Are Bush Administration figures high on more than life? (Ambien) [View All]

[TomInTib]

This is from March 16th, but I couldn't find it on DU. Definitely worth a read.


Slate columnist Bruce Reed has an article today noting some of the more bizarre apparent side effects of the popular sleeping pill, Ambien, and wondering if they don’t explain the Bush administration.

Reed recalls the recent talk blaming fatigue among senior Bush staff for the no-longer slow motion train wreck the administration has become. He offers up a laundry list of examples, to which we can add the apparent schizophrenia on whether or not Iran is arming some elements of the insurgency in Iraq.

Reed isn’t the first to wonder whether Ambien is having an untoward impact on the conduct of our nation’s affairs: in November of 2003, I spotted a Colin Powell interview in which he extolled the benefits of the drug. The president’s father was fond of Halcion, another sleeping aid with side effects that include temporary amnesia and a variety of mood disorders, and that may have been responsible for one of the more entertaining speeches ever delivered by Bush père:

<snip>

Secretary Powell: Yes. Well, I wouldn’t call them that. They’re a wonderful medication — not medication. How would you call it? They’re called ambien, which is very good. You don’t use ambien? Everybody here uses ambien.

Pretty interesting read at:

http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1238