Say It Ain't So Already

Prescription Drug Deaths Kill More People Than Traffic Accidents

January 19, 2012 at 1:09 AM Leave a comment

When I saw this headline, it stopped me in my tracks:

Surge In Prescription Drug Overdoses Causes Drug Induced Deaths To Top Motor Vehicle Fatalities

That is shocking.

Here are the details:

An analysis by the LA Times on 2009 death statistics reported by the CDC reveals that more American lives are being lost to prescription drugs than their illegal street counterparts and it is fueling the growth of drug induced deaths to previously unheard of numbers. Drug overdose surpassed the death toll from motor vehicle accidents, for the very first time on record, and claimed 39,147 lives.  The report also found that commonly abused prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Soma and the newly popular Fentanyl, which has 100 times the pain killing abilities of morphine, cause more deaths than cocaine and heroin combined.

Nearly every cause of preventable death has declined in recent years, with the exception of drug overdose, which has doubled over the course of the past decade. The CDC has declared the situation a national epidemic, and it is reaching into all age demographics. Between 2000 and 2008, drug fatalities doubled among teens and young adults and tripled for those aged 50 to 69, with the highest number occurring for people in their 40s. Unsurprisingly, in those same years, drug overdose on prescription pain killers and anti anxiety medications more than tripled. It has been suggested that the reason these drugs are so lethal is because they are prescribed by trusted doctors, and patients using them do not understand the danger posed, as there is very little stigma attached to using them.

These numbers are three years old.  I would imagine they’re even worse now.  But just think, in 2009, 39,147 people died of a prescription drug overdose.  39,147 people!  That’s terrible.

We started two wars over the deaths of 2,996 people on 9/11 but some 39,000+ people are dying every year due to prescription drugs?  Why aren’t we declaring a war on that?

This is outrageous and so, so sad.

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