miseniors.net

Driven by rising prescription drug overdose, drug-related deaths exceed road deaths in the United States, an analysis of time the government has found. The drug related cause of death killed at least 37 thousand people nationwide in 2009, according to initial information, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although most of the major preventable causes of death are declining, the prescription drugs are an exception. The number of deaths has doubled in the last ten years and are now claiming a life every 14 minutes. Instead, road accidents have fallen for decades because of huge investments in the field of automotive safety.

Public health experts have used this comparison to bring attention to the problem in the nation for prescription drug use, which they describe as an epidemic. Since the government began tracking drug induced deaths in 1979, for the first time drugs account for more deaths than traffic accidents, Prescription pain medication and anxiety drugs are powerful, highly addictive and very dangerous, especially when combined with each other or with other drugs (which is common) or alcohol. The most common abuse of prescription drugs are OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. Relatively new on the scene is fentanyl, a painkiller that comes in the form of suckers and patches, and is 100 times more potent than morphine. These drugs actually cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine together.

A review of hundreds of autopsy reports in Southern California reveals one tragic death after another: Examples are of a 19 year old army recruit that just passed his military physical, took a handful of Xanax and painkillers while partying with friends. A groom who was anxious about his upcoming marriage overdosed on a cocktail of prescription drugs. A small child was orphaned after both parents took an overdose of prescription drugs within months of each other. A grandmother who suffered from intense back pain apparently forgot that she had already taken her daily pain killers and ended with a double dose.

The seeds of the problem were planted over a decade ago with well-intentioned doctors to relieve suffering, and aggressive marketing campaigns by pharmaceutical manufacturers. In retrospect, the prescription medication liberalized pain but caused the epidemic we faced today. In some ways, prescription drugs more dangerous than illegal because users do not have their guards People feel they are safe with prescription drugs because they are bought in a pharmacy and prescribed by a doctor, and young people think they are safer because they see their parents take them. This is not the same stigma for the use of street drugs.

Triumph of public health policies that have improved road safety over the years through the use of seat belts, airbags and other measures Although the number of people miles of driving and road deaths fell by more than one third in early 1970, and 36 thousand in 2009. According to the Times analysis, data showed drug-related deaths was equal to or greater than road traffic accidents in California and 22 other states before the year 2009.