Suicidal Tendencies: Or, a New York Writer Takes Chantix

Carter Albrecht‘s name pops up several times in an article in the new issue of New York magazine — not surprising, as the piece is headlined, “This Is My Brain on Chantix.” At first, writer Derek de Koff shrugs off the theory that Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug had something to do with Albrecht’s death last September: “It seemed obvious this was nothing more than scaremongering — perhaps Big Tobacco had launched a spin campaign,” he writes of a CBS News story about Albrecht and FDA warnings concerning the drug.

Then came the bad dreams — courtesy, at first, Radiohead and Tim Gunn. Or not: “By night four, my dreams began to take on characteristics of a David Cronenberg movie,” de Koff writes. “Every time I’d drift off, I’d dream that an invisible, malevolent entity was emanating from my air conditioner, which seemed to be rattling even more than usual. I’d nap for twenty minutes or so before bolting awake with an involuntary gasp. I had the uneasy sense that I wasn’t alone.” And then it got much, much worse. –Robert Wilonsky