And this comment is one of the most sanctimonious I've ever read.

I am honestly trying to warn people than GPs do not necessarily know all that much about the side-effects of the drugs they prescribe, particularly relatively new drugs (like zopilcone) where opinion about them is evolving. I am not accusing them of corruption or malice as you seem to think I am, but I am saying they are not as omniscient as you seem to imagine. GPs have to cover a vast range of different areas of medicine and do a very difficult job; but the result is that a couple or hours spent on the internet can often uncover quite a lot more about a particular condition or drug you have than your GP knows.

Many, maybe even most, GPs in my experience still take the line espoused by bangkokiscool whom I quoted - it was the standard view about drugs like zopiclone when they first came out, and of course the one pushed by the drug companies. Now try reading the wikipedia page on the subject. Of course, I'm not saying wikipedia is always right, I'm using it as an example of information available on the internet rather than the fount of all truth, but I'm afraid this is one of many cases where it does contian much more detailed and better advice than you will get from most GPs.

If you happen to think I'm wrong and that GPs do indeed know more about all the drugs they prescribe than you can find on the internet, then please present the evidence rather than just getting on your high horse and attacking me as some kind of dangerous crank when I'm actually just trying to direct people to better advice. OK, if people want to consult their doctor perhaps I shouldn't have said that's an "awful" thing to do, but please treat their advice as one of many imperfect sources of information: when they say something is safe, it ain't necessarily so.