Billmon:
Maybe his dad could give him some driving lessons — preferably on dry land.
Back to Main
May 5, 2006
WB: What Is It About Kennedys and Cars?
Comments
There’s a great Hookers at the Watergate scandal just about to break wide open- and what does this Kennedy do? He steps all over it with his car accident. Is there any scandal that some Democrat won’t interfere with by doing something stupid?
Posted by: JR | May 5 2006 17:10 utc | 2
JR,
maybe those republicans do have God on their side. I mean, could the timing be any better?
Posted by: dan of steele | May 5 2006 17:14 utc | 3
This “scandal” will be over fast.
Ambien, the nation’s best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug.
In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. Wisconsin officials identified Ambien in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004.
Some Sleeping Pill Users Range Far Beyond Bed, NYT, March 8
Kennedy claims to have taken Ambien. That is a least plausible.
We still don’t have clue one what actually happened “That Day”..the chances the Teddy was actually driving the car are small…one moment of the Watergate Hearings I remember w/crystalline clarity was when it came out that Anthony Ulasowicz(sp?) was up there on that day…
Posted by: jj | May 5 2006 17:56 utc | 5
Ambien again. Sheesh.
This stuff is implicated in alot of traffic accidents recently. While it seems obvious that sleeping pills and driving don’t mix, I guess people either (a) take it on the way home to get a head start on sleepiness, or (b) get up too soon after taking it — the effects don’t wear off early if you want them to.
Posted by: Between Classes Guy | May 5 2006 18:57 utc | 6
Kennedy says:
“Following the last series of votes Wednesday evening, I returned to my home on Capitol Hill and took the prescribed amount of Phenergan and Ambien, which was also prescribed by the Attending Physician some time ago and I occasionally take to fall asleep. Some time around 2:45am, I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote.
“Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication. At that time, I was involved in a one-car incident in which my car hit the security barrier at the corner of 1st and C St, SE. At no time before the incident did I consume any alcohol.”
Hookergate is much more promising 🙂
So,actually there probably is a pretty significant interaction between phenergan and ambien. (http://www.drugs.com/phenergan.html), although in the cited source ambien isn’t mentioned specifically among the sleep drugs. The chemical description says its not a benzo, but fact of the matter is it does everything to look like a benzo (http://products.sanofi-aventis.us/ambien/ambien.html). I’ve got clients who definitely use phenergan to get high. I’m not saying Kennedy did. Maybe he can’t read.
Posted by: DonS | May 6 2006 2:06 utc | 8
WB shouldnt have characterized phenergan as “for runny bowels.”
Phenergan by itself can render you incapable of driving – as a nurse I’ve seen it make people unarousable except to extreme stimulation. With ambien on top of it?! Amnesia and disorientation on ambien is well documented — an ambien/phenergan cocktail would have been more than enough to have caused the car accident, even for an addict.
Posted by: cindy | May 6 2006 5:35 utc | 9
That’s the first time I ever heard of someone getting high on medicine for runny bowels.
While Billmon may have misrepresented the action of Phenargan, as far as “runny bowels”, opiates have actually long been known and used for their constipating tendency, as I discovered after oxicodone was prescribed to help relieve a bout of shingles. A mere two hits over two days were enough to bring my digestive track to a complete halt. (Seems some of us are more susceptible.) Why don’t docs warn about these possibilities in advance?
Wikipedia quotes Andrew Weil. “There are many documented cases of opium and morphine addicts who, despite lifelong, heavy habits, survived to ripe old ages, remaining healthy to the end. … The worst medical effect of regular opiate use is severe and chronic constipation.”
Soldiers and merciful medics seem also to be aware of this connection. In John Crawford’s raw, edgy account of his experience as a reluctant soldier in Iraq, he includes the scene of his quest for a few hours of oblivion in Baghdad.
Kreed moved slowly up the stairwell. Each footstep was heavier than the last, and although his head was tilted forward with eyes half closed in fatigue, his mouth curved upward in a smile. I sat at the top of the stairs, smoking a cigarette and watching him. There were salt stains on my brown T-shirt from the sweat that had accumulated since its last wash, and with an Iraqi bayonet I cleaned the week-old grime from underneath my fingernails. . . .
“What’s up, Kreed?” I asked without bothering to look up…
“Nothing man. Just chilling you know.” The slur was apparent, and when I glanced over curiously, my eyes found his dull and glazed over.
“Dude, what are you on?” My curiosity was piqued, and I pocketed the knife and dropped off the bannister onto my heels.
“What?” He looked confused as to where he was. There were plenty of blue and white pills around — whatever pharmmaceuticals we could get our hands on — but none that gave the results Kreed was showing. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I wanted in.
… Kreed moved in slow motion, first looking left, then right, as if imparting the secrets of the universe. “Man, go down to the aid station. Tell Doc Little that you have the shits and to give you what he gave to the Kreed Dog. Don’t tell no one else, though.”
“Yeah, no problem. Is he down there now?” I was already putting on my uniform top and reaching for a rifle from the rack we had hung just inside our door…
Shit, I gotta try this stuff. My feet were already gliding down the three flights of concrete steps like a child’s on Christmas morning.
Posted by: small coke | May 6 2006 10:04 utc | 10
I am watiting for Rush Limbaugh to pounce on this issue mercilessly…
Posted by: ralphieboy | May 7 2006 8:28 utc | 11