Report: Prescription drugs kill far more in Florida than illegal drugs

[happy_liberal]

According to a report released Thursday by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, 5 percent of all deaths in 2009 were attributable to prescription drug use, far outnumbering those caused by illegal substances.

The report indicates the most frequently occurring drugs found in decedents were ethyl alcohol (4,046), all Benzodiazepines (3,379), Oxycodone (1,948) and cocaine (1,462). The drugs that caused the most deaths were Oxycodone, all Benzodiazepines (with Alprazolam, also known as Xanax, accounting for the majority of the deaths), methadone, ethyl alcohol, cocaine, morphine and Hydrocodone.

Oxycodone, the generic version of the Purdue Pharma brand name prescription pain-killer OxyContin, was the cause of 1,185 state deaths in 2009, a 26-percent increase from the year before and a whopping 249-percent increase from 2005.

“Prescription and over-the-counter abuse is growing faster than any other drug segment and law enforcement is responding with aggressive enforcement,” said Gerald Bailey, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “FDLE and our partners are working daily to target traffickers, take out pill mills and stop doctors who prescribe pain medicine without medical necessity.”

http://floridaindependent.com/3360/report-prescription-drugs-kill-far-more-in-florida-than-illegal-drugs-oxycodone-deaths-at-record-high

[spanone]

1. there's a drug store on every corner....

[csziggy]

2. When it is so easy to get them without the risks of badly made drugs, sure

And when forging prescriptions just gets a slap on the wrist, why not?

Jeb Bush's daughter charged with prescription fraud
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/29/jeb.bush.daughter.drugs/

The latest Bush hypocrisy
Gov. Jeb Bush calls for jail time for nonviolent drug offenders as his daughter gets sent to rehab.
http://www.salon.com/news/col/huff/2002/09/16/war_on_drugs
While Noelle has been given every break in the book -- and then some -- her father has made it harder for others in her position to get the help they need by cutting the budgets of drug treatment and drug court programs in his state. He has also actively opposed a proposed ballot initiative that would send an estimated 10,000 nonviolent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail. I guess what's good for the goose gets the gander locked away.

Of course, Jeb's wildly inconsistent attitude on the issue -- treatment and privacy for his daughter, incarceration and public humiliation for everyone else -- is part and parcel of the galling hypocrisy that infects America's insane drug war on every level.

[happy_liberal]

3. and they did not even count deaths from anti-depressant

n/t

[Fumesucker]

4. Interesting that they didn't quote a figure for pot on either list..

And yet pot is still the prime focus of the drug war with far more arrests than for any other substance.

[Oregone]

7. Pot kills no one

Unless you clog your arteries from magic brownies.

[bemildred]

5. No shit?

Does this mean we can confiscate all their assets?

[happy_liberal]

6. ooohh good idea!

:applause:

That would go a long way toward paying down the national debt.

[KamaAina]

8. Not to mention Rush's

This could give a whole new meaning to "economic stimulus". :P

[happy_liberal]

9. Who are the drug pushers now?

Remember when we were told to worry about the boogeyman on the corner trying to make us buy a bag of weed (like it is that easy)...


You know, when you add up the deaths in all 50 states that is a helluva lot more people than died on 9/11.

Perhaps we should change to a war on Big Pharma to save lives and protect our freedom?

[Lance_Boyle]

10. Poor headline - these inanimate objects do not kill anyone.

People have been known to kill themselves with drugs, legal and otherwise. But I have never seen a pill or a bottle - of its own volition - kill anyone.

[Sanity Claws]

11. Last quoted paragraph assumes abuse

I would like to see some proof that these deaths were due to abuse. Death can result from using the drugs as directed.