- For more than a decade it has been mandatory to present a prescription issued by a professional doctor to acquire controlled medicines in Mexico.
- The consumption of drugs without a prescription is not only a crime but also puts people’s integrity at risk.
- The Clonazepam Challenge has become popular on social networks and has already caused dozens of poisonings.
Drugs are one of the allies to combat a large number of diseases. Although to guarantee its correct functioning it should never be abused. Similarly, the consumption of controlled drugs is a serious problem that goes beyond the legal sphere. The integrity of people is also put at risk and can even lead to fatal consequences.
The importance of correct medication consumption
As an example, the antimicrobial resistance It has become a matter of public interest due to its impact. Unnecessary abuse of drugs has caused them to lose effectiveness. If the trend continues, it is estimated that by 2050 it would be the cause behind 10 million deaths per year.
However, since November 2022, in different parts of our country, a growing number of adolescents have required medical attention due to symptoms such as drowsiness, dizziness, vertigo, confusion, and obtundation. The cause? The call “Clonazepam Challenge”which consists of “daring” to be the one who falls asleep last and beat those who fall asleep before.
Obviously, everyone wants to win the famous challenge and they end up consuming dangerous amounts of this medicine without the slightest awareness of what could happen to them. Clonazepam is a psychopharmaceutical from the group of benzodiazepines that has a high addictive potential, because in our brain there are very high amounts of receptors for these substances, which therefore create dependency and withdrawal syndrome quickly.
According to the Dr. Beatriz Corona Figueroawho is Coordinator of the Research Committee of the Dean of Social, Economic and Administrative Sciences of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, Clonazepam has an important medical use for conditions as serious as panic disorders, epilepsy, anxiety disorders or chronic insomnia and is often an adjuvant in the treatment of psychotic disorders. Even in cases of medical use, the doses must be carefully indicated by a specialist and any adverse effects must be closely monitored to avoid further damage.
Psychiatrists take great care in prescribing it and generally the doses are distributed in fragments of the tablets and to acquire them there are very clear rules such as the updated medical prescription with all the health requirements and the buyer’s official identification, documents to which even They are made a photocopy that the pharmacy keeps by indications of the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris).
What happens when you take controlled medications without a prescription?
The first cases of intoxicated adolescents occurred in Veracruz and then Mexico City, Jalisco and Guanajuato followed, with different degrees of intoxication and severity among those who had fallen for the challenge and even in recent days, some cases still occurred. This dangerous practice presents interesting alternatives for analysis both in its origins and in its consequences, and they are the following:
- Many adolescents are completely at the mercy of the content of social networks and do not have the support and supervision of their parents, who are usually not affiliated with them and do not know what they share.
- Affected adolescents appear to view the approval of others as the primary value and to be achieved at any cost.
- Drugs that follow regulations for their sale are highly available and accessible to adolescents, which in itself reflects a problem on another level. With this, accessibility for those who truly need it may begin to suffer greater restrictions and this may affect their treatments.
- The tendency of these adolescents to find fun in dangerous activities is worrisome, as if escaping from the surrounding reality rescued them from boredom, insignificance, or anonymity. And in the same sense, their difficulty in finding fun, joy or meaning in healthy and uplifting activities.
- The challenge is the momentary “fashion”, but unfortunately, the addiction that derives from this consumption can remain for many years, cause various sequelae, be the gateway to other types of substances, dangerous combinations or the severity of overdoses and suicide attempts.
- The electronic media with which the so-called “Generation Z” is growing up and the digital skills that adolescents develop to use them do not in any way replace the emotional skills to face pain, anger or anxiety and to feel appreciation for themselves.
Also read:
Cofepris publishes an alert for the Clonazepam Challenge: “It is so serious that it can cause a coma”
Clonazepam Challenge, the new and dangerous trend of TikTok
List of all medicines that are prohibited in Qatar