Our elected representatives seem to have forgotten that prescription drug abuse has morphed into a public health problem of epidemic proportions.
Attached a link http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/health/06drugs.html to an article from today's New York Times entitled, "Prescription Drug Abuse Sends More People to the Hospital."
Here are some highlights:
* The number of emergency room visits resulting from misuse or abuse of prescription drugs has nearly doubled over the last five years,even as the number of visits because of illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin has barely changed.
* 1.2 million visits to emergency rooms involving pharmaceutical drugs in 2009, compared with 627,000 in 2004. This does NOT include visits due to adverse drug reactions.
* The number of people seeking treatment for addiction to painkillers jumped 400 percent from 1998 to 2008.
* In a growing number of states, deaths from prescription drugs now exceed those from motor vehicle accidents, with opiate painkillers like Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin playing a leading role.
The question remains: what are we going to do about it?
Bernd
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