ABSTRACT
From the beginning of the twentieth century, bromides enjoyed a signiÞcant role in the U.S. as sedatives. With the advent of barbiturates in the 1940s, the use of bromides waned. Since then, barbiturates have been used traditionally for the alleviation of pain, anxiety, hypertension, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders. Eventually, use of barbiturates would be replaced by other sedative-hypnotics (S/H) of comparable strength, namely chloral hydrate and meprobamate. Benzodiazepines would replace the traditional S/H as more effective, less toxic, and less addictive anxiolytics (sedatives). Today, the most popular therapeutic agents for anxiety (used for sedation), hypnosis (used for sleep), or anesthesia (for deep sleep) include buspirone (Buspar®) and zolpidem (Ambien®). Benzodiazepines are still frequently employed. With the strict enforcement of federal and state controlled substances regulations, barbiturates have lost signiÞcant inßuence in both the therapeutic and illicit drug markets. Nevertheless, they are still the cause of 50,000 accidental and intentional poisonings per year, and their synergistic effects with ethanol are one of the leading causes of hospital admissions.
