Health & Wellness: Working Out the Kinks — Is a drug-free America possible?Published June 17, 2012

By MICHAEL QUARTARARO

Michael Quartararo

Its time to take a serious look at the drug problem in America.

According to the CDC, for the first time in recorded U.S. history, prescription drugs killed more people than motor vehicle accidents.

The latest compiled research from 2009 showed 37,485 people died from overdoses and side effects of medications compared to 36,284 deaths from traffic accidents. The CDC also released that prescription drug fatalities doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008 and tripled among people 50 to 69.

Let me be very clear, these deaths are not due to illegal street drugs, the study showed that legal prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, and Soma were the biggest culprits. To put this in perspective, these four prescription drugs caused more deaths in the United States than cocaine and heroin.

This over prescription and overuse has spilled into the teen population. From a Baltimore Sun news story: According to the White House Office of National Drug Policy, prescription drugs are second to marijuana as the drug of choice for todays teens.

Seven of the top 10 drugs used by 12th graders were prescription drugs. More than 40 percent of high school seniors reported that painkillers are fairly or very easy to get.

The Office of National Drug Policy also reported that teens believed that if they were to get caught, there was less shame attached to the use of prescription drugs than to street drugs. This mirrors the perceptions of their parents, who when queried said that they felt prescription drugs were a safer alternative to drugs typically sold by a drug dealer, according to the report.

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Health & Wellness: Working Out the Kinks — Is a drug-free America possible?Published June 17, 2012