It should be illegal. I had a prescription when I was 20. The first three times I took it, I had no issues. Swallowed, immediately laid down in bed, then knocked out ten minutes later. The fourth time, I had to deal with something after I had taken it. I didn't fall asleep.

I remember going back to my desk, looking into my PC case (it had plastic windows on the side so you could see inside), and beginning to hallucinate. The cabling inside stretched out into a landscape and it felt like I was looking at the horizon on some alien Giger-esque planet. Then I blacked out and woke up to see I had added a bunch of high school friends on LinkedIn. Nothing bad happened thankfully, but I never took it again.

At least when you black out on alcohol, your motor abilities are severely impaired, to the point that you're just as likely to simply pass out before you make it outside. With ambien, your body isn't limited by anything, but you still have no control over your actions.

The safest alternative is edibles.