Prescription medications appear repeatedly in Reggie’s surviving writings, particularly in his Jail Diary.

Their presence requires an important distinction. Taking a psychoactive medication does not by itself mean that someone is abusing drugs. Some medications mentioned by Reggie had legitimate medical uses and were prescribed to him. At other times, he wrote about misusing prescription medications or taking pills that had not been prescribed to him.

The circumstances therefore matter.

This page looks at what medication Reggie was referring to, whether it was prescribed to him, how he described using it, and what the surviving evidence actually tells us.

It is also important to distinguish physical dependence from addiction. Some medications can produce physical dependence even when taken for legitimate medical reasons, and abruptly stopping certain drugs—including benzodiazepines and barbiturates—can cause medically significant withdrawal.

These distinctions are particularly important when reading Reggie’s accounts of medication, doctors and access to drugs while incarcerated.

On This Page:
Part 1 — Understanding Prescribed Drugs  ·  Part 2 — Prescribed Drugs in Reggie’s Life  ·  Part 3 — Selected Stories & Writings

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Part 1 — Understanding Prescribed Drugs

Prescription drugs are medications that legally require authorization from a qualified healthcare professional. They are prescribed to treat medical conditions, relieve symptoms or manage problems such as pain, anxiety and insomnia.

The fact that a medication can affect mood, alertness or consciousness does not mean that taking it is drug abuse. Many psychoactive medications have legitimate medical uses.

Prescribed Use and Misuse

The circumstances in which a medication is used are important.

A person may take a medication exactly as prescribed. The same medication may be misused by taking it differently from the way it was prescribed, or it may be taken by someone for whom it was not prescribed.

These distinctions are particularly important in Reggie’s story because his writings contain examples of all of these circumstances.

Dependence and Addiction

Physical dependence and addiction are related concepts, but they are not the same thing.

Some prescription medications can produce physical dependence when taken regularly. The body adapts to the presence of the drug, and suddenly stopping it can cause withdrawal symptoms. Physical dependence can occur even when medication has been taken appropriately for a legitimate medical reason.

Addiction involves a broader pattern of compulsive drug use despite harmful consequences.

The Medications in Reggie’s Writings

Several types of prescription medication appear in Reggie’s surviving writings. These include benzodiazepines such as Valium, Dalmane, Serax and Xanax, as well as prescription opioids and other medications.

Their presence should not all be interpreted in the same way. In some cases, the surviving record indicates that a medication was prescribed to Reggie. In others, he described misuse, taking medication prescribed to someone else, or circumstances where we simply do not know how he obtained it.

For that reason, this page distinguishes wherever possible between prescribed use, misuse, non-prescribed use and circumstances that remain uncertain.

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Part 2 — Prescribed Drugs in Reggie’s Life

Prescription medications appear at several points in Reggie’s surviving writings, but they become particularly visible in the Jail Diary.

For Reggie’s family, some of these references have been discoveries made only while reviewing his writings for this archive. The family knew about many aspects of his illegal drug use, but did not necessarily know which medications had been prescribed to him, which pills he obtained elsewhere, or how he sometimes used them.

The surviving record therefore has to be considered medication by medication and incident by incident.

The 1997 Darvon and Valium Overdose

One important reference occurs before the Jail Diary.

In My Story, Reggie wrote that in 1997 he “overdosed on Darvon and Valium.”

Darvon was a brand name for propoxyphene, an opioid pain medication. Valium is the brand name for diazepam, a benzodiazepine.

The passage documents prescription-type drugs in Reggie’s life before the later Jail Diary references. However, his brief account does not establish whether either medication had been prescribed to him or how he obtained them.

Prescription Medications in the Jail Diary

The Jail Diary provides considerably more detail. Reggie sometimes recorded the name of a drug, interactions with doctors or medical staff, whether a medication was prescribed, and what he subsequently did with it.

These details allow us to make distinctions that would otherwise be impossible.

Dalmane

Dalmane was the brand name for flurazepam, a benzodiazepine prescribed for insomnia.

Reggie’s Jail Diary indicates that he received Dalmane as a sleeping medication. In another entry, however, he wrote that he had “cranked” Dalmane.

The medication therefore appears in two different contexts: legitimate medical treatment and what Reggie’s own account indicates was misuse.

Serax

Serax was a brand name for oxazepam, another benzodiazepine. Reggie referred to Serax in a context indicating that it had been prescribed to him.

Its appearance in the diary should therefore not automatically be categorized as drug abuse. It also documents Reggie receiving a psychoactive medication as part of medical treatment.

Xanax

The circumstances surrounding Xanax (alprazolam) were different.

Reggie’s diary indicates that the Xanax he referred to had not been prescribed to him.

That distinction matters. Xanax itself is a legitimate prescription medication, but taking medication prescribed to someone else is different from taking medication prescribed as part of one’s own medical treatment.

Valium Appears Again

Valium appears again later in the Jail Diary.

On December 9, 1999, after his request for a temporary absence at Christmas had been denied, Reggie wrote that he “takes Valium.”

The entry establishes that he took Valium, but does not tell us where it came from. Unless other evidence establishes the circumstances, we should not assume whether it was prescribed to him or obtained elsewhere.

Prescribed, Misused or Uncertain

These examples demonstrate why prescription medications cannot simply be treated as another category of illegal drug use in Reggie’s story.

The surviving record includes medication apparently prescribed to Reggie and used medically; prescribed medication he later described using differently; medication that was not prescribed to him; prescription drugs involved in an overdose; and references where we do not know how he obtained the drug.

A medication being psychoactive does not make its use drug abuse. Likewise, the fact that a drug can legally be prescribed does not mean that every instance of its use was medically appropriate.

The circumstances matter.

Dependence and Access to Medication

Some prescribed medications can cause physical dependence when taken regularly. Physical dependence can develop even when a medication is being used for a legitimate medical reason and is not, by itself, proof of addiction.

This is particularly important with drugs such as benzodiazepines and barbiturates. Abruptly stopping them after physical dependence has developed can produce significant withdrawal symptoms.

That creates an important consideration when reading Reggie’s Jail Diary. A prisoner repeatedly asking for medication might be seeking its psychoactive effects. Depending on the drug and circumstances, however, losing access could also represent a genuine medical problem associated with dependence or withdrawal.

The behaviour alone does not tell us which explanation applies.

Unless Reggie’s writings or other records establish the circumstances, the archive should not make that determination for him.

Benzodiazepines in Reggie’s Writings

Several medications that appear repeatedly in Reggie’s writings belong to the same family: Valium (diazepam), Dalmane (flurazepam), Serax (oxazepam) and Xanax (alprazolam) are all benzodiazepines.

Their repeated appearance does not necessarily mean that Reggie preferred this particular class of drugs. Some were prescribed to him, while others appear in circumstances involving misuse or medication that had not been prescribed to him.

Because Reggie was also living with opioid addiction during parts of this period, these references are important. But unless Reggie tells us why he took a particular medication on a particular occasion, we cannot know whether he was seeking relief, trying to sleep, treating anxiety, trying to become intoxicated or acting for some other reason.

The medical information can help us understand the possibilities. Reggie’s own record has to tell us which of those possibilities actually applied to him.

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Part 3 — Selected Stories & Writings

Prescription medications appear in several parts of Reggie’s surviving writings. Two sources are particularly useful for understanding their place in his life.

My Story

In My Story, Reggie recorded that in 1997 he “overdosed on Darvon and Valium.”

The brief reference is important because it establishes that prescription-type drugs were part of his drug history before the later Jail Diary. It does not, however, establish whether either medication had been prescribed to him or how he obtained them.

The Jail Diary

The Jail Diary provides the most detailed surviving record of Reggie’s experiences with prescription medications.

Throughout the diary, Reggie wrote about doctors, medications, sleep, addiction, withdrawal and access to drugs while incarcerated. The entries include medications prescribed to him, medications he described using differently, pills that had not been prescribed to him, and circumstances where the surviving evidence does not provide a clear answer.

Taken together, these entries reinforce an important distinction throughout this page: what Reggie was prescribed, what Reggie took and what Reggie misused were not necessarily the same thing.

Explore More in the Archive

This page highlights selected material from the archive. Additional references may appear throughout Reggie’s writings, family recollections, documents and other stories. Use Search the Archive to explore this subject further.