Sam was very stressed out after he lost his job and went to the doctor suffering from what the doctor diagnosed as a “panic attack.” The doctor promptly prescribed an anti-depressant as well as a tranquilizer to “take the edge off” of the panic attack. Sam really liked the tranquilizer as it did, indeed, take the edge off of his panic. It felt pretty good and he didn’t even get a headache from it.

The prescription for the tranquilizers was soon exhausted so Sam went back to the doctor to get some more tranquilizers. As these pills are only supposed to be used on a short term basis, the doctor did not want to prescribe them for Sam, but relented as Sam begged. He told Sam that he would give him one more prescription for the tranquilizers and that was it. He also advised Sam to “wean himself off” of the pills.

Sam couldn’t “wean himself off” of the pills. As a matter of fact, he seemed to need more and more of the pills to achieve any effect at all. Where he began by taking one pill, he was not up to five at a time. He knew he was going to run out of pills, so he went to another doctor and got another prescription. He had it filled at another drugstore and felt better.

Then Sam found something wonderful - the internet world of drugs! He found that for a few dollars more, he could order all of the controlled substances he wanted on the internet. So he began ordering more of his favorite prescription. While he was at it, he decided to try other tranquilizers as well. Sam was like a kid in a candy store. Before long, he had used up most of his savings on prescription medications he purchased online. But he didn’t care because he was feeling good.

Although he knew that he shouldn’t take the tranquilizers with alcohol, it didn’t seem to bother him. He was now up to seven pills and that he could do with still taking a drink. It had been quite some time since he actually fell asleep without some sort of medication. His entire life revolved around getting more tranquilizers.

The one or two times Sam actually tried to quit taking the tranquilizers, he felt as though he was crawling out of his skin. It was pure agony. Sam decided that it was far better to continue taking the pills. Unfortunately, he never thought to go to the doctor and tell him about his problem. Like many others, he thought that stress was “no big deal” and that he could solve the problem himself. Besides, the drugs were legal, right?

One night, he took seven tranquilizers and a drink before going to bed. He got a little sleepy and “forgot” that he had already taken tranquilizers and took some more. His landlady found his dead body the next afternoon after his girlfriend kept calling without getting an answer and Sam never showed up at work. Sam was only 26 years old.