I take melatonin on a regular basis. In fact, my pdoc "prescribes" it for me. I take 6mg every night along with my other meds that have a side effect of drowsiness. The downfall is that I still have a hard time getting to sleep. When I was in the hospital recently, I was taking 10mg of ambien along with the 6mg of melatonin and 1mg of ativan. That made me sleep like a hybernating bear. Unfortunately, my neuro took me off the ambien because it is addictive. Back to melatonin, I will give it to my daughter when she needs it, it is that safe.