I Found a New Drug

It's fun! It's legal! But should I be worried?

Call me crazy, but I love running marathons. I run two per year. The problem is, I get so excited and nervous the night before a race that I can’t sleep.

A lifelong insomniac friend told me that, after much experimentation, he’d finally found the perfect cocktail: a heavy-duty sleep-aid called Belsomra before bed and then, when he inevitably woke up in the middle of the night, a dose of gabapentin.

I coaxed my primary care physician into prescribing me these pills not long ago, and then tried them the night before a 5K.

The Belsomra worked pretty well; maybe it was psychosomatic, but I fell right to sleep.

When I awoke around 2:00 am and took a gabapentin, however, things didn’t go as planned. Instead of putting me under, it wound me up.

I found myself wide awake, riding high.

This was not very helpful for my race, but it did inspire me to try gabapentin recreationally.

And for that, it succeeded. It made me chipper, conversational, and game for anything. I fired up my Spotify playlist, went to the grocery store, and had an incredible time shopping for organic cucumbers. The high was mild, but not too mild. Closer to a double espresso than a cup of coffee.

The best part was that the next day I felt clear as a bell.