Unexpected aggressive behaviour: interaction of bupropion and alcohol.

A healthy policeman was prescribed bupropion in 2002 to help him stop smoking. It worked but after 18 months he relapsed. Though it had given him headaches and insomnia he tried using it again in 2009, [corrected] taking 150 mg/day. Three days after starting the tablets he took his wife out for dinner. They shared a bottle of wine and he also had other drinks. After walking home they quarrelled, he slapped her, she slapped him. He threw the phone at her saying 'call the police!'. They came and charged him with assault; he was suspended. An expert report attributed the aggressive outburst to an interaction between bupropion and alcohol; the accused was a social drinker and had never been violent. An expert advising the police agreed, and 14 months after the event the court dismissed the case.