Report on Librium

As reported in the San Antonio Light last week, the experiences of several patients taking a new peace-of-mind drug were highly disturbing. A woman remembered that she had left a light burning at home, turned around quickly, became dizzy and fell, breaking her thigh. A man got into his car, sent it roaring into reverse without bothering to look back, and plowed into a tree at 15 m.p.h. A mild little woman ruined her accident-free driving record in a downtown wreck and reacted angrily in traffic court.

The source of these stories, alarming to patients and physicians alike, was Dr. Neville Murray, 37, a Scottish-born San Antonio psychiatrist who first aired his findings before the American Psychiatric Association, and then took the unusual step of going to the public with his complaints about the new drug. He was turning to the press, he said, because speed was essential to warn of the danger. The drug he had been using: methaminodia-zepoxide, trade-named Librium, recently marketed with much fanfare by New Jersey's Roche Laboratories (TIME, March 7) and now giving hot competition to meprobamate (Equanil, Miltown). The maker's claim: Librium acts by allaying rage and anxiety reactions without causing drowsiness or depressing mental activity.

The fact was that Librium, like all powerful drugs from digitalis to cortisone, can indeed be dangerous unless given in carefully controlled doses, with the patient under close watch. Before a psychiatrists' round table a fortnight ago, Dr. Murray conceded that he had been dosing his office patients heavily, sometimes with 75 milligrams a day. Said Round-Table Chairman Anthony Sainz, research chief of New York's Marcy State Hospital: "All of us who heard Dr. Murray thought the side effects were the result of giving too high a dose and lack of control in administering it. The recommended dose to start with is only 30 milligrams a day."

Most psychiatrists expect some undesirable, incidental effects from Librium but not so many or so bizarre as those reported by Dr. Murray. They agree that with the right dosage and for the right type of patient, Librium is a useful drug.

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