Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/24
By: Chen Wei-ting and Lilian Wu
Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) Taiwanese people used a record-high 339 million
CNA file photo
sleeping pills in 2014, up 12 million pills from the previous year, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
The three most commonly used drugs to treat insomnia in 2014 were Zolpidem (137.09 million pills), Estazolam (86.08 million pills) and Zopiclone (28.74 million pills), based on the latest data.
To prevent people in Taiwan from becoming addicted to sleeping pills, the FDA began an annual auditing program on sleeping pill use in 2011, and it showed that use of Zolpidem dropped in 2014 from 161.04 million pills in 2011.
But use of Brotizolam and Zopiclone have been on the rise. [FULL STORY]
