Anti-Smoking Drug Causes Car Crashes

The nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices has linked the smoking-cessation drug Chantix to more than two dozen highway accidents. The mishaps may have resulted from such drug side effects as seizures.


The military, which already bans Chantix for flight and missile crews, is considering whether other precautions are needed. The medication was recently banned for pilots by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Chantix was approved two years ago, and differs from other anti-smoking drugs by acting directly at sites in the brain affected by nicotine, blocking the pleasure that comes from smoking as well as the cravings.

Sources:

* Los Angeles Times May 25, 2008