Prescription drug addictions rise

[flashl]

Yahoo

By Jason Szep
Jul 29, 2008

BOSTON (Reuters) - When Sarah Roisman was 11 years old, her doctors prescribed Klonopin, a muscle relaxant, for a psychiatric disorder that caused her to have seizures. She liked how the drug made her feel. Her seizures went away.

But that's where her trouble with addiction began.

By age 14, the teen from an upper middle-class Philadelphia suburb led a dangerous double life. Editor of her school paper, strong student and popular athlete, Roisman was also hooked on painkillers and other drugs in an addiction that illustrates the rapid expansion in prescription drug abuse in America.

...

The issue of prescription drug abuse shot to prominence with January's death of 28-year-old Hollywood actor Heath Ledger after he took six different prescriptions. The death of Ledger, who plays the Joker in the new Batman film "The Dark Knight," adds to a growing list of prescription drug overdoses that includes Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith in 2007.

Other deaths are less celebrated. In the 45-54 age group, overdose deaths fueled by prescription drugs now surpass motor vehicle deaths as the nation's No. 1 cause of accidental death, federal data show.

[jus_the_facts]

1. Yet if you smoke weed you're a CRIMINAL...

...big pharma needs an ENEMA! :hurts:

[jody]

2. The article incorrectly says “overdose deaths fueled by prescription drugs . . . No. 1 cause of

accidental death, federal data show.”

“Unintentional poisoning” is the largest cause of Unintentional Injury Deaths.

See: WISQARS Leading Causes of Death Reports, 1999 – 2005

Poisoning

Poisoning occurs when people drink, eat, breathe, inject, or touch enough of a chemical (poison) to cause illness or death. Some poisons in very small amounts can cause illness or injury. Injury or illness may occur very quickly after exposure or may take several years with long-term exposure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines a poisoning that occurs by accident as “unintentional poisoning” and a poisoning that results from a conscious, willful decision (such as suicide or homicide) as “intentional poisoning.” CDC is supporting efforts to track, investigate, and prevent poisonings.