Alarming Rise in Prescription Drug Overdoses
The U.S. is currently facing an epidemic of deaths caused by accidental drug overdoses. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 75 people die every day from drug overdoses. More than 90% of all poisoning deaths are attributed to unintentional drug overdoses that occur during drug abuse and due to taking too much of a prescribed medication.
The number of deaths from drug overdoses more than doubled between 1999 and 2007, from about 12,000 to more than 28,000 per year. In 2007, fatal drug overdoses were second only to motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the general population. For those aged 35 to 54, they caused more deaths than car accidents.
Most of these deaths are caused by opioid pain medications (oxycodone, methadone and hydrocodone), followed by cocaine and …