When you start to take any prescription medication like Xanax, you always tell yourself that you will be safe. The whole world has come together to make a little cocoon for you. Those clever men and women you see in white coats on TV commercials who make the Xanax are always so careful. And even if they were to make a mistake, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States or the other regulatory authorities around the world would notice and refuse approval.

In the unlikely event that anything did slip through, all doctors supervise their patients with meticulous care, and would always detect and report any dangerous side effects.

Well, Xanax retains its approval so no major problems have been reported.

Anything that has been on the market for more than a few months must be safe?

Well, Xanax was released in 1981 and is still routinely prescribed around the world. That speaks for itself.

Naturally, you are right! You have to believe in all your government’s best plans to keep you safe otherwise you would never trust anything.

And yet, Xanax is a Schedule IV controlled substance in the United States. As one of the benzodiazepines, it can be habit-forming if you take it for too long or in too high a dosage.

Does this mean you cannot take Xanax safely?

Of course not! Xanax is a highly effective medication that can be taken safely so long as you follow the directions given by your doctor.

So what has set this particular rabbit running? Have you heard of a rapper called Beanie Siegel. He was christened Dwight Grant but lived on Siegel Street when he was young. Well, Beanie is all grown up now and in trouble. He seems to have been involved in various shooting incidents and fights — all par for the course if you want to build up "street cred" as a rapper. A jail term or two really boosts your record sales. Well, as if he needed more "cred", he has just been returned to jail. This time, it is a probation violation. Beanie, you see, is addicted to Xanax and, because he is on probation, he is not allowed to take a controlled substance, even with a legitimate prescription. When he was called for a routine drug test, he handed over a false urine sample. That was a change from his usual routine. He had already tested positive for Xanax in his five previous tests in March.

So here is a successful recording artist who has all the resources of rehab clinics and private health insurance packets that would cover the cost of weaning him of Xanax. Yet, he remains an addict and increasingly in trouble with the courts who are unlikely to be very sympathetic. Jail is not the best place to go cold turkey but that is usually what happens to addicts when they are locked up.

The moral of this story. Well, it is really rather obvious. No matter how effective Xanax is in relieving your symptoms of anxiety and panic, it remains a benzodiazepine and you cannot blindly take risks with medications like this. You have to balance the potential benefits against the risks, and do whatever it takes to reduce those risks. The withdrawal symptoms from Xanax are at least as bad if not worse than the original symptoms you wanted to cure. Relapse is common. Let Beanie be a warning to you. If you have the slightest worry about your ability to control yourself — perhaps you have a "slight" drinking problem or already do quite a lot of recreational drugs — it is better not to start taking Xanax. Literally, you may not be able to stop.