The Encyclopedia of ADDICTIVE DRUGS

(Greg DeLong) #1

226 Lorazepam


nationalities, not races, but the research description stated that the issue of
racial effect was being investigated; so those nationality labels were intended
to have racial connotations.)
Drawbacks.Partial amnesia is a typical effect of the substance, and after
using it for several days, people may have trouble gaining new memories.
Investigators have also found that the drug interferes with detecting whether
information is correct, while simultaneously reducing a person’s awareness of
memory trouble. Occasionally lorazepam temporarily stops respiration, and
people suffering from serious breathing trouble should avoid the substance.
The same goes for persons with acute narrow-angle glaucoma. The drug can
reduce body temperature and, depending on circumstances in experiments,
either raise or lower heart rate and blood pressure.
Researchers find that the substance interferes with recognizing common
items shown in distorted pictures; such trouble is considered evidence of the
brain suffering from weakened ability to understand what the eyes see. A case
report notes that lorazepam may impede movements of the mouth and face.
The drug somewhat garbles speech. Because of adverse impact on mental
clarity and physical performance, people are advised to avoid operating dan-
gerous machinery (such as cars) for at least 48 hours after using lorazepam.
Driving tests have shown the drug to reduce vehicle control skill while in-
creasing risk-taking. Other tests demonstrate worsened attention, slower re-
action time, and delay in reasoning out the solution to a problem. An
experiment demonstrated that users may be unaware of how much the drug
is interfering with their abilities. Dizziness and weakness may occur. Typically
a dose has greater impact on the elderly, and all persons risk falling down
until the drug wears off. A case report notes that lorazepam can eliminate a
person’s interest in sexual activity. An unusual case report tells of someone
who was hearing noises in an ear, and the noises became musical hallucina-
tions of popular songs when the person began taking lorazepam. More typi-
cally, however, the drug is able to stop auditory hallucinations. Other case
reports tell of visual hallucinations after taking the compound, and that re-
sponse was also observed in 3 children among 112 who were given the drug.
Although lorazepam is used to reduce anxiety, case reports and formal ex-
perimentation show that the substance can increase aggressiveness (perhaps
because people are less afraid to do things). A schizophrenic who received the
drug lost enough inhibitions to start acting out violent impulses, and similar
reports exist. In formal experimentation volunteers receiving lorazepam be-
came more aggressive but did not realize they were angrier than other persons
in the experiment.
Abuse factors.Various psychological tests measure how much a drug ap-
peals to someone. Among persons who already have a history of drug abuse
(a population prone to like drugs much more than nonusers do), some results
indicate lorazepam has about the same addictive potential as diazepam or
meprobamate; some results simply show lorazepam to have an unspecified
amount of appeal; and in one experiment abusers found the drug about as
attractive as a placebo (indicating low addictive potential). Rats begin exhib-
iting tolerance to lorazepam after several days of dosing. If a person takes
lorazepam enough to develop dependence on it, suddenly quitting the drug
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