Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal
Posted by fredjoiners on June 17, 2008
Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal, Florida Says
From “Scarface” to “Miami Vice,” Florida’s drug problem has been portrayed as the story of a single narcotic: cocaine. But for Floridians, prescription drugs are increasingly a far more lethal habit.
An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined.
Law enforcement officials said that the shift toward prescription-drug abuse, which began here about eight years ago, showed no sign of letting up and that the state must do more to control it.
“You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers, and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments,” said Jeff Beasley, a drug intelligence inspector for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which co-sponsored the study. “There is a multitude of ways to get these drugs, and that’s what makes things complicated.”
Full story at the New York Times
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therapyexpert said
Shopping on the internet has many benefits, but I do feel that more needs to be done to ensure that people who are buying prescription drugs online have had proper medical screening to make sure that they are right for them. Perhaps this might result in less deaths. This coupled with the fact that there are more senior citizens live in Florida than any other state means that there are more prescription drugs consumed than perhaps illegal drugs.
DawnPugh
DawnPugh.com
fredjoiners said
Thanks dawn,
I agree with you completely.
The internet needs some controls with drugs, alcohol and prescription drugs.
Also, in my area (The Sunshine Coast of Australia) we have a large proportion of retirees, elderly people and I can see the problems with prescription abuse looming large on the horizon.