ambien, the nation's most popular, 40 million annual prescription.w jersey police arrested this woman who appeared drunk. it wasn't just alcohol. she had popped ambien, gone to bed had no memory of getting behind the wheel. >> you hit something with your car. >> reporter: in texas a woman who mixed wine with ambien also ended up unknowingly on the road. she runs over a family in their yard, severely injuring an 18-month-old. she got probation. her lawyers argued she had no intention of driving. she took the sleeping pill, expected to go to sleep. researchers say it's important to understand how the brain functions when it's on sleeping medication. the results were eye-opening to say the least. i'm driving a car and i clearly shouldn't be. weaving in and out of lanes. but don't worry, we won't put anyone's life in danger. for our road test we came to the university of iowa, to the nation's most advanced driving simulator. where i am the first person to undergo this simulation while under the influence of ambien. >> we can expose people to things like

she had taken ambien and alcohol, gone to bed, ended up on the road. a frightening case of sleep driving. >> you hit something with your car. >> reporter: with 60 million annual prescriptions for sleeping pills in the u.s., there's increasing concern. that's what brought us to the university of iowa and the nation's most sophisticated driving simulator. researchers watch my every move. >> we can see the speed of your vehicle. we have cameras pointed at your eyes and we're tracking the movement of your pupils. >> big moment, take my sleeping pill. the drug is designed to act fast. very fast. >> so it's been a little over 30 minutes since lisa took the medicine. >> reporter: only 30 minutes. >> i'm a little dizzy, but i think i can do it. >> reporter: i'm wrong. >> am i on the wrong side of the road? >> reporter: i am awake enough to know something's not right, but i can't help swerving all over the road. >> so this is very dangerous. >> she's really stopped blinking. >> reporter: an indication my brain thinks i'm asleep and that i don't need to blink. >

30 minutes, 90 minutes, four hours on ambien. our reporter in a stunning test. hours on ambien. our reporter on a test. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are, or may become pregnant or are breast feeding should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening o

the developer stand behind ambien when taken as directed.clearly warns make sure you get seven or eight hours of sleep. this pill may not clear your body entirely for up to 12 hours. so there is also a warning on this pill and in fact on all sleeping pills, to make sure you are fully alert, fully awake, before you drive. john, paula. >> a great story. my goodness. that is scary. >> have you taken a sleeping pill to survive on the shift? >> no, i try to stay away. the over-the-counter ones, tylenol p.m. they put you out. ambien is another level. >> i haven't, taken the four-hour. >> we are so tired. >> i can drink a red bull. >> still sleep. >> before i go to bed. my husband will be like what are you doing, cranking open a monster. i will pass out. >> the fda says people have left their bed, driven cars, eaten food, prepared the food, had sex or made phone calls under influence of ambien and not been awake. isn't that amazing? >> take it. go to sleep. lock your door. still ahead a young man's inspiring quest to get in shape. >> we told you ab

ambien is another level. >> i haven't taken ambien. drink a red bull. >> still sleep. >> before i go to bed. my husband will be like what are you doing, cranking open a monster drink? i like the carbonation. i will pass out. >> the fda says people have left their bed, driven cars, eaten food, prepared the food, had sex or made phone calls under influence of ambien and not been awake. isn't that amazing? >> take it. go to sleep. lock your door. >>> still ahead, a young man's inspiring quest to get in shape. >> we told you about nathan's public journey and asked you what inspires you to work out. we'll have your answers coming up. >> announcer: abc's "world news now" will continue after this from our abc stations. our abc stations. ♪ let's get physical physical ♪ let's get physical physical ♪ i want to get physical ♪ >> my mom doesn't like the song by olivia newton john. >> too racy. >> in junior high. >>> last week we told you about a young man making a public commitment to lose weight. >> he appeared on a national commercial, during th

ambien acts fast.as weaving all over the road and nearly hit a pedestrian. >> what we're seeing right now is very dramatic. lisa is driving. but her vehicle is all over her lane. >> reporter: after a nap, i try again. this time, 90 minutes in. maximum ambien stupor. i feel barely awake, making wild turns. sideswiping a big-rig. >> if this was an interstate, we could have a disaster on our hands. >> reporter: how did i drive? >> terribly? >> reporter: seriously? i hit a car? i'm certainly unsteady on my feet. legs don't work quite as well. even after four hours, i dozed through a red light. let's face it, i should be sleeping. and in fact, i am. now, this could happen on any sleeping pill. and all of them have warnings to take the pill and get seven or eight hours of sleep. and make sure you are fully awake before you drive. and the developer of ambien says that pill is perfectly safe when taken as directed. >> lisa, did you remember much? it didn't look like you did. >> i remembered about half of it. >

ambien. generic version. there are cases all over the country. those who pop the pill on the way home or try to drive too soon. and perhaps most terrifying of all. this new jersey woman had no idea she was even driving. she had taken ambien and alcohol. gone to bed. ended up on the road. frightening case of sleep driving. >> hit something with your car. >>reporter: with 60 million annual prescription for slping sleeping pills in the u.s. there's increasing concern. that's what brought us to the university of iowa and the nation most sophisticated driving simulator. researchers watch my every move. >> we can see the speed of your vehicle. we have camera pointed at your eyes and tracking the movement of your pupil. >> big moment take my sleeping pill. >>reporter: drug is designed to act fast. very fast. >> so it has been a little over 30 minutes since lisa took the medicine. >>reporter: only 30 minutes. >> i'm a little dizzy. i think i can do it. >>reporter: i'm wrong. i'm awake enough to know something is not right but i can't help swerving. all o

some body gave me pills like ambien. great. take a little sleeping pill. pop it. happening, but something else is happening. i realize that -- very quickly that a was actually a little v on the pill, because not only did i not sleep the entire flight, i was camping happening. >> jimmy: somebody gave you viagra instead of ambien? >> yeah, yeah. >> jimmy: first you need a doctor or new friends? >> friend of mine. friend of mine. >> jimmy: beginning of the flight? >> beginning of the flight. glass of wine. little ambien. no. >> jimmy: you are walking -- >> no walking. if i had to go to the restroom. i was embarrassed. >> jimmy: did any fellow passengers notice what was going on? >> most of them were sleeping. cool, i had, dennis hopper, god rest his soul, lying next to me. his daughter was there, playing with the glass menagerie, the thing on the ledge. halfway through the flight, i am playing with her, and on a second, man. i'm going to go to jail. i am going to get arrested. this does not look good. does not look good. >> jimmy: that's right. a great prank. how lon

>> this is one of the findings that people who get the sedative medication ambien have these paradoxicalcoveries and what we think of the ambien effect is what we think about the that lamb milk brain effect .. i have a colleague at emery brown shows me this is similar to what happens in anesthesia as well let's take the anesthesia case that is probably something we can really relate to, almost everyone in anesthetic their brain quiets and they get sort of less active and sedate and then there is a period of excitation, and in is a generic things, what you see is rhythms in the eeg continue over the frontal lobe of the brain and the person gets a little disquieted what we think is going on with ambien that general phenomenon is underactive brain is release ago brake, the brake is put on because the 7 central thalamus is disconnected and not active and a combination of excitement in the cortex, releasing the brake of the thalamus and just like when we stimulate the thalamus the frontal part of the brain turns on and it takes itself for a ride like catching a wave, the most dramatic case a

police say she had ambien in her system. people taking the drug and of behind the wheel and have no memory of it afterward. it's scary and dangerous moment in a pipe speak international hill climb in, right. >> and mitsubishi avolition corp. took a turn on mile 16. take a look at -- a mitsubishi evolution car took a turn a mile 16. everything was flying. the driver and his co-driver were airlifted to a local hospital and amazingly neither man was seriously injured. that is crazy. >> actually that makes a of a compelling argument why you would buy that car because the fact they could survive that is really amazing. >> it is a race car -- you can see the cage and everything. >> let's check in with steve. >> a beautiful sunrise out there this morning. it is dry and later this afternoon and little changed. a cold front will move our direction which will bring a better chance for stronger thunderstorms. pop up, hit or miss, so many of you will not see anything at all but if you do, be prepared for gusty winds and heavy downpours.

you start to think i need this to fall asleep. >> talking about ambien.ll asleep, when they stopped, like a ten minutes, 15 minute difference. >> when you take it, generally, you fall asleep maybe ten minutes faster. time you spent sleeping whole nights, that's longer. can't tell if that's because of the drug or placebo effect. >> ambien is a very dangerous drug. i think it's going to be like novels are going to be written ten, 20 years from now, people do so many bizarre things on a measuri mbien. >> there are so many warnings. makes your brain have a hard time remembering, short-term am knee sha. you might wake up the next day and find a broken wrist. just can't remember the last eight hours. >> there was a public figure who was in the paper for driving under the influence of ambien. do you know how many people do that? >> a lot of people. >> and sometimes don't remember in the morning. >> one of the problems, there's not a lot of information about using these medications as long as people are now using them. the information there is not great. so, that

. - take an ambien. - listen, am i crazy, or do we both want this? - does it matter? you got a great girl in there, eric. she almost let you have this. bye. - bye. [door closes] - ♪ the sky is crying ♪ can't you see the tears roll down the street? ♪ ♪ the sky is crying ♪ can't you see the tears roll down the street? ♪ captioning sponsored by comedy central ( theme song playing ) ( cheers and applause ) >> pelley: hey, everybody, welcome to dale dale. my name is jon stewart. my guest tonight saima wahab, she's written a book about her experience going up in afghanistan and portland, oregon. (laughs) sister cities. you know the saying "you are where you eat?" you don't? because i have made that up. and yet for the country's leading conservatives. tweet ago picture of themselves with chick-fil-a recently became a great way to express opposition to same-sex marriage. a litmus lunch, if you will. palin, huckabee, limbaugh, even, surprisingly, this middle aged lesbian. (laughter and applause) has a... (laughter). (laughs) are you sure? that's actually south carolina senator

for this test, or this is only ambien? >> what we do is we test using broadband, a steady noise.h one sound, you get one answer and another you get another answer. the sound levels differ over the place. we did was the standard objective sound isolation test that allows us to settle -- set a limit. but to your point, after we set the limit of music noise in the gold dust, we checked upstairs to make sure that the math works out. it is not a matter of acoustical engineering testimony. it is a matter of performance and the gold dust lounge -- knows that because i have discussed this them. >> any other questions? the tremor was not applicable since we were asking -- timer was not applicable since for asking questions. thank you. yes, sir, welcome. >> commissioners, hello and good afternoon. my name is richard young and i have been the band leader at the gold dust for 14 years. it is a house band. your concerns for different bands being different does not apply. we have been the entertainment and music in the gold dust for a long time. for about eight years in the gold dust itself, w

takes ambien and the steering wheel to show you what it is like a stages.t looking forward to it. we will see you in just a bit. those storiesch more right after abc 7 news at 6:00. the roof of an administrative s now considered a total loss upper a massive fire yesterday. took 140 firefighters well the night to extinguish. one had a minor burn. other injuries were reported. the building also has extensive r damage. stilluse of the fire is investigation. a horrific looking crashed on an estate 81 left seven people hurt. a tractor-trailer changing lanes crashed into a bus sending them both tumbling into the median. was seriously hurt but should survive. minor.er injuries were truck driver is charged with driving. areet's see how things the roads this evening. boccie have some problems. on 395 inart washington boulevard. the big delays start as you work your way down toward garrisonville a series of acts embalming and overturned a tractor-trailer. traveling the inner loop of the maryland heading stopd river road we have a accidentse because of activity just before river road. americ

. >> 40% said they helped a lot compared to newer medications like ambien. it's generic. scoring at 0%. >> but a number of people were overdusing prescription drugs taking them 27 of the past 30 nights. >> most are approved for max 10 days. there are concerns about using them longer just because of rebound insomnia. and the side affects like next day grogginess. >> gichen these draw backs, alternative treatments are worth trying. researchers told consumer reports if you're having trouble it's considering worth considering a white noise machine. >> and team behind nasa's mars rover got a call from the president today. there are several hundred crammed thoot room to hear the call. >> curiosity is going to be telling us thing that's ke we did not know before. >> the president thanked the team leaders including the lead engineer on the entry and laning team. and also a special thought out for mobak sal yoski. >> another vehicle is making news. kit go faster than curiosity. it zrnt a driver. this is video of the car called shelly. no driver there at the wheel. there is shelly

before, governor romney had a tendency to peter ambien vague to be vague or change his position a lot. it is now clear. so this is a good thing for the country that we have this stark choice. we know for certain what i have been saying for some time. there is no real distinction between what the republican congress has proposed and what governor romney plans to do. and the american people have already had a glimpse of the ryan congressional republican budget and they rejected it. they have seen it. the polling data and the special election races, they saw it and they said that is not the place we want to go. at least it is my view that the overwhelming majority of americans are going to say that is not the place, that is not the path i want to go. i believe they will reject the governor romney and congressman ryan for attempting to impose that vision on the american people. ladies and gentlemen, they are both good man, as i said, but they have fundamentally flawed judgment. they of both good man. they call their plan bold and gusty. it is bold. i do not get what is gutsy about gutting

. >> you don't need ambien. >> bret: are the democrats rewriting the convention plans because of the situation? [ kate ] most women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. >>> are you saying that you are in no matter what? you are not going to get out before the september 25 deadline? even it appears you are going to lose and cost republicans possibly control of the senate? >> well, george, i'm never going to say everything that could possibly happen. i don't know the future. i've made the decision to stay in because i i believe we can win this race. there is such a strong contrast between me and my opponent. >> the democratic party, the obama campaign, and many in what we call the main stream media are trying to make this, try og make a lot of this issue arguing that it represents the republican party war against women. >> bret: democrats jumping on u.

but a cart ton full of ambien would have to get me to sleep. in a woman's right to choose, a civil safety net and rights. i couldn't switch parties and philosophies like i'm switching from coke to pepsi. where davis sees greater career advancement potential. call me naive, but i think you should move through this game called politics believing in something. ed kilgore wrote -- will be privately contemptous of him. >> i remember covering congress in 2005 and meeting with one of his aides who laid out the plan for me then that 2010 was the year. this is before barack obama was running for president and it was not uncommon in washington for people to look at davis and say here's your first black president. the plan in 2005 was to position himself for governor of alabama in 2010, prove a black guy could win a southern state. that loss in 2010 was not an ordinary loss. that was a total political career meltdown for this guy. he's been trying to get back into politics. interesting to me how he's settled on this. >> and look at there. my man, martin b

. >> i was on a lot of ambien at the time. >> saying "america, you sexy bitch" pleases me to no end.> so saying how you met is accurate? >> you asked her to co-author over twitter? >> host: why did you agree? >> guest: i just went through a really bad day grout -- break up. despicable men of deprivation and sadness. >> with american politics and then "daily show" and legitimately i thought it was an interesting ids and i could have no other time to do something over the top and exciting and a serious. >> host: blues day atheist liberal and republican christian read state got together. what is the tone of the book? >> i think it is surprisingly positive. when we had the initial discussion the mailing back and forth we wanted to know we would not make it personal. it does happen a little bit but it is ase experiment to go together and be friends. >> host: day do view got into the rv and took off. >> and a driver and my cousin john and our speeeleven manager. and started driving through america talking to people with. >> we were both frustrated with politics right now i said the way i f

. >> i was on a lot of ambien at the time. >> the look on your face.or the c-span guy. >> this is the c-span tdma program. >> said the way ms. mccain tells the story of how you met. you asked her to co-author a book like >> i proposed over twitter that we write a book. >> why did you agree? >> i had just gone through a really bad breakup. sorry it's really funny when i say it. what a full-time project to do. >> you are having a moment of desperation and sadness. >> is that you know this is not some opportunity with the popularity of "the daily show," and legitimately it was interesting idea and i would get no other time in my life as ridiculous and over the top and exciting and serious at the same time. >> so a blue state it is liberal and a republican christian red state are packed together. what is the tone of the book? >> i think surprisingly positive. before you embark on the project i think when michael and i were having the initial discussion and we got the concept for the book, both of us knew enough about each other that we weren't really going

prosecutors believe he gave his wife a dangerous combination of valium, percocet and ambien. >> he wasthe autopsy be done right away, because he was very concerned that he would be suspected of murder. >> reporter: in a statement to abc news, macneill's lawyer continues to deny that he killed his wife and is confident the truth will set him free. >> we know he's guilty. we know he'll harm again if let out. he'll come after us. >> reporter: macneill's youngest daughter is now 11 years old. she'll likely have to testify. if found guilty, macneil could if found guilty macneill could the death penalty if the d.a. seeks it. >>> high-speed car chase caught on tape. her gas pedal stuck, the driver zoomed for a crowded interstate, begging 911 for help. that call saved her life. we were there when she met her savior at the other end of the line. abc's john schriffen is here with that story. >> amazing story. the woman behind the wheel of the runaway suv said she noticed something was wrong when the steering wheel started to shake. the suv soon sped out of control. her first thought was to call

before, governor romney had a tendency to peter ambien vague or change his position a lot -- gue or change his position a lot. so this is a good thing for the country that we have this stark choice. we know for certain what i have been saying for some time. there is no real distinction between what the republican congress has proposed and what governor romney plans to do. and the american people have already had a glimpse of the ryan congressional republican budget and they rejected it. they have seen it. the polling data and the special election races, they saw it and they said that is not the place we want to go. at least it is my view that the overwhelming majority of americans are going to say that is not the place, that is not the path i want to go. i believe they will reject the governor romney and congressman ryan for attempting to impose that vision on the american people. they of both good man. they call their plan bold and gusty. bold. i do not get what is gutsy about gutting medicare to pay for that. that is not new. that is not new. it is not fair. it is not fair to the working