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Etsy has been flooded with hats and candles asking the question: “Has Anyone Seen My Lorazepam?” Social media is rife with videos of people enunciating “lorazepam” in a faux Southern drawl. Lorazepam even made a cameo on a recent episode of “Saturday Night Live,” when the actress Chloe Fineman raucously shouted the word during a sketch.
As anyone even loosely familiar with Season 3 of “The White Lotus” may know, this sudden tsunami of references to a prescription medication used to treat anxiety is not a sign of mass desperation. Rather, it’s a manifestation of an unceasing fan obsession with Victoria Ratliff, a character on the HBO TV show, the current season of which ends on Sunday.
Played by Parker Posey, Victoria is a wealthy North Carolina woman on vacation at a wellness resort in Thailand, who, despite the idyllic setting, regularly expresses a need for her lorazepam, a drug known for being tough to quit.
A massage? It could make her “very stressed out” and “claustrophobic,” Victoria says. The lorazepam helps her “to really relax,” she tells a masseuse.
A party on a yacht? “Certain social situations make me anxious,” Victoria drawls at her eldest son, Saxon.
Her daughter Piper’s decision to make a major life change? “I don’t even have my lorazepam,” a distraught Victoria declares after her bottle goes missing. “I’m going to have to drink myself to sleep.”
The medication’s name is uttered as frequently as any character’s, making it seem like part of the cast. But the way it has permeated popular culture has everything to do with Ms. Posey, whose portrayal of Victoria involves a Southern accent that has offered a master class in the art of gleefully unfurling the syllables packed into a word.
Lorazepam is a generic drug produced by different companies and is sometimes referred to by its brand name, Ativan. It is part of a class of benzodiazepines that includes diazepam (Valium), clonazepam (Klonopin) and alprazolam (Xanax).
Nearly 20 percent of people who take benzodiazepines misuse them, according to a study. Publications like The New York Times, Cosmopolitan and CNN have rolled out articles warning about lorazepam’s potential for addiction and the risks of taking it with alcohol.
Online, Victoria has been anointed with nicknames like “Our Queen of Lorazepam” or “Our Leading Lady of Lorazepam.” The “White Lotus” TikTok account has also leaned in, calling her “the benzo queen.”
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