A recent TV news story about the dangers of prescription drugs said that 8,500 deaths a year can be attributed to prescription drug overdose. Where they get their figures is beyond me – half that many died in Florida alone in 2008. Florida represents a relatively small portion of the U.S. population, there’s no way there can be only 4,500 in the entire U.S.

A list was published sometime ago – during the Purdue pharma hearings where they were fined $634 million for lying to the public about how addictive OxyContin was – of people who had died from OxyContin. Not everyone was on the list of course, but it does have the names of about 500 people.

Although there are some people in their 30’s and40’s on that list, the vast majority were in their late teens/early 20’s when they died. And many of them weren’t taking tons of pills. In fact, many weren’t even addicts – they were just testing the drugs out, experimenting.

With just about every death that gets publicized – Michael Jackson’s death is the most recent tragedy, and there was Heath Ledger not too long ago – there are a lot of drugs involved. It looks like Michael Jackson was taking at least 10 different prescription drugs.

But a drug rehab specialist recently told me that it’s not terribly unusual for someone to die the very first time they take them. One drug, one time.

If you know of someone taking prescription drugs, you should know that the DEA says prescription painkillers alone are now causing more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. The agency also said there are more than 7 million Americans abusing prescription drugs – more than ecstasy, heroin, hallucinogens, cocaine and inhalants combined.

You think those drugs aren’t all over the street available to any kid or adult? They are. And based on the majority of OxyContin deaths happening from age 18 to 25, it’s clear that a large percentage of 7 million abusing prescription drugs are in that age group.

Is it happening with your young adult kids? Relatives? Friends? Get them into an OxyContin rehab center. If they’re taking other drugs, any facility that can handle OxyContin can handle other drugs as well. Don’t take the chance of them being added to the overdose lists. Call Drug Rehab Referral today. We can help.

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