By: Melanie HaikenWould it surprise you to learn that prescription drug overdoses now kill more people than car accidents? Somehow that message doesn't seem to be getting out, says the CDC, which now calls prescription drug abuse an epidemic.
Over the past 20 years, the death rate from drug overdoses has tripled, CDC data show, with prescription painkillers the reason for much of that rise. In 2008 there were 36,000 overdose deaths, almost all of which were from prescription painkillers.
The growth rate is pretty shocking; in 2010 (the last year the CDC has data for), 2 million people reported that they had begun to use prescription drugs for non-medical purposes within the past year. That, says the CDC, comes out to 5,500 a day. The number of people seeking treatment for prescription painkillers rose 400 percent between 2004 and 2008.
Because they can so handily be "borrowed" from friends and family, and because -- being technically legal - they seem innocent, prescription drugs are becoming frighteningly popular with teens, experts say. According to the FDA, one in seven teenagers admits to abusing prescription drugs to get high in the past year, and prescription painkillers are now teenagers' top choice after alcohol and pot. The problem is, teenagers are unlikely to understand how highly addictive these drugs are. After all, if mom takes them for her knee injury, they can't be that big a deal, right?
Continue Reading: forbes.com
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