'The Situation with Tucker Carlson' for March 16

Guests: Susan Lask

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: 

Up next, is the popular sleeping drug Ambien turning Americans into zombies?  Could you wake up next to a pile of chicken bones if you take that pill?  We‘ll meet someone who says yes when THE SITUATION returns. 

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CARLSON:  Welcome back. 

If you found yourself driving on the wrong side of the road, shoplifting or ransacking the fridge in the middle of the night, your sleeping pill may be to blame.  So says my next guest.  She‘s filing a class-action lawsuit against the makers of Ambien.  Attorney Susan Chama Lask says the popular drug has turned her clients into virtual zombies.  She joins us tonight from New York City. 

Susan Lask, thanks for joining us. 

SUSAN CHANA LASK, ATTORNEY:  Hi, Tucker.  Thank you. 

CARLSON:  So what are some of the weird things you claim Ambien is making your clients do?

LASK:  Well, my clients are telling me that they‘re eating gallons of ice cream at night, gorging their faces to the point where they have food stuffed in their mouths and their spouses have to shovel it out of their face.  Eating raw eggs, raw rice, raw vegetables from the can.  It‘s this bizarre, like carnal eating that they do, that‘s—it‘s just grotesque. 

CARLSON:  Maybe they‘re just hungry.

LASK:  Night bingeing, a sandwich, a Coke, but not like this, no. 

CARLSON:  Do you have video of this?

LASK:  No.  But we‘ve spoken to spouses who‘ve witnessed it or when we‘ve talked to the people that have been experiencing this, they wake up and find the evidence of it all around, like cereal bowls.  I‘m talking, like, four or five.  Milk spilled all over.  They have fudge on the face, fudge on the fingers. 

CARLSON:  So you can, while sleeping, pour a bowl of cereal?

LASK:  Sloppily, but you can do it, yes. 

CARLSON:  Now there have been, as I‘m sure you know, reports for many years, long before Ambien was invented, of people night eating or claiming to night eat, anyway.  Claiming they weren‘t aware of the fact they ate a dozen brownies and saying that they were asleep when they did it.  How do you know Ambien is responsible for this?

LASK:  Because these people that have been doing it haven‘t—they haven‘t had this phenomenon before.  And then once they stop Ambien, they don‘t have the bizarre behavior afterwards. 

CARLSON:  Well, I mean, no offense to your clients.  I know a lot of people who are taking Ambien, by the way.  And I don‘t mean to denigrate people who are taking Ambient.  But you don‘t take Ambien if you‘re entirely shipshape.  I mean, you‘re taking it because you have a problem.  You can‘t sleep.  And so maybe preexisting psychiatric problems are to blame for this.  Have you considered that?

LASK:  Yes, I have considered that.  And we weed people out and ask them if they do have a history of psychiatric problems, this and that.  And some people might. 

But the situation still is that Ambien does—is highly related to the sleep eating disorder.  And the logic is, once they stop the Ambien, they don‘t have it.  And you know what?  Personally, if there are—if there is anybody with a mental problem, which none of my clients so far, you know, have we discovered that, they still shouldn‘t be taking Ambien and, you know, having the eating disorder. 

CARLSON:  Why don‘t they just stop taking Ambien then?  I mean, look, the larger question is, if I take Ambien and I eat two dozen eggs and spill some milk and Cap‘n Crunch in my bed, I mean, that‘s embarrassing.  But how much money do you think I‘m entitled to for that?

LASK:  Well, whatever their damages would be.  I mean, I couldn‘t even tell you.  I‘m more concerned right now, we‘re all very more concerned with getting the warnings out there, you know, and to stop it.  And just...

CARLSON:  Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Wait a second.  I mean, with all due respect, you‘re a lawyer.  I mean, you‘ve got to eat yourself, hopefully while you‘re awake.  And so you‘re, you know, at least partly motivated by money here.  And so how much do you think a person who sleep eats is entitled to?

LASK:  First of all, I‘m absolutely not motivated by the money.  I‘m motivated by the cause for these people. 

CARLSON:  OK. 

LASK:  And all these people...

CARLSON:  Are you doing it free?

LASK:  At some point my attorney fees will be paid, and they might not.  When you do class actions, sometimes it doesn‘t work out. 

CARLSON:  How much are you asking for?

LASK:  If you read the complaint, which it doesn‘t say that at all. 

We‘re asking for money.  We‘re asking for the warnings. 

CARLSON:  OK.  So you‘re not going to take any money from the drug maker, Ambien?

LASK:  Every person that did suffer, and you‘re completely correct, does deserve to be compensated.  Everyone‘s going to have their own individual problem.  Some people suffered severe problems like stomach disorders and they‘re taking medication.  And you‘re absolutely right, they will be compensated.  It‘s just a matter of figuring out what the amount of damage each person is due. 

CARLSON:  What‘s the weirdest food you‘ve heard of an Ambien user eating?

LASK:  Buttered cigarettes. 

CARLSON:  How were they?  Menthol or regular?  King size? 

LASK:  I would suspect they were king size.  But no, I didn‘t ask.

CARLSON:  Did the person—had the person ever eaten butter-covered cigarettes before?

LASK:  No, not at all.  NO. 

CARLSON:  How were they?  Did you ask?

LASK:  Look, the visualization, myself, thinking about it, makes me want to throw up. 

CARLSON:  Yes, me too.

LASK:  Yes.

CARLSON:  All right.  Susan Chana Lask, thanks for joining us. 

LASK:  Thank you very much.

CARLSON:  Still to come, a teacher who compared President Bush to Hitler is back at school, but the boy who reported him is out. 

Plus if you thought the cola wars were bad, wait until you see the showdown between coffee makers.  We‘ll tell you which fast food giant has Starbucks steaming, next.

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