I would never take Ambien myself after someone I know was prescribed it, and instead of sleeping they would black out, blast techno/dance music in their apartment, and scream at the top of their lungs while stomping up and down ("dancing"). Then post about it on social media. All without remembering it, or with only hazy memories.
One of the major side effects of Ambien is anterograde amnesia, some people are less sensitive to it, but generally anything you do in "black out" phase will be a complete blur the next day. I used to take it an hour before bed and try to get some work done, I'd usually wake up the next day to several pages of code with absolutely no recollection of writing it.
Atheist here; you are implying a religious person would believe that taking this (and others as 'a gateway drug' implies) drug makes it easier for demons to possess you? Is that a common thought in some circles? I was raised religiously (catholic and reformed), but never heard about this.
Those people typically have not had any experiance with benzos and are over perscribed. 3mg is equal to 60mg of valium. Someone with no benzo tolerance getting 60mg of valium is going to blackout and act stupid too.
Is this a joke? Sciencedirect is a database hosting academic journal articles. This particular article is from the joural Cortex and reports novel research results. It is obviously not based on a NYTimes article! The NYTimes could of course be more accessible or have a broader perspective.