The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported that the level of overdose deaths caused by prescription painkillers in the US has now eclipsed the overdose deaths caused by heroin and cocaine combined. The CDC warn that prescription painkiller overdose deaths are now to be considered a ‘national health epidemic’, after finding that the use of prescription drugs for non-medical purposes has become radically more popular in the last decade. The report states that there were nearly 15,000 deaths caused by overdoses of prescription painkillers in 2008, more than three times the 4,000 deaths reported in 1999. It is also reported that 4 times the quantity of prescription painkillers were sold to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices in 2010 than in 1999. Middle aged men have the highest prescription painkiller mortality rates. The CDC report is available here.
The White House has released a plan of action expanding upon the Administration’s National Drug Control Strategy entitled ‘Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis‘. The plan includes action in four major areas to reduce prescription drug abuse – education, enhancement of prescription drug monitoring programs, proper disposal of unused medications, and support for law enforcement agencies to expand their efforts to shut down “pill mills” and to stop “doctor shoppers”, who contribute to the trafficking of prescription drugs. The plan calls for “urgent action to ensure the appropriate balance between the benefits these medications offer in improving lives and the risks they pose.”
