Prescription Drugs Killing Young Adults
By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The state of Delaware is small enough to allow detailed records to be kept in the area of health and medicine. Although there are definitely differences in health and health outcomes from state to state it can serve as a microcosm for overall health.
Some disturbing statistics regarding substance abuse is that more young adults died from overdoses of prescription drugs last year than automobile accidents and new information from the CDC points to a national problem as well.
Deaths from any kind of drug overdose doubled between 1999 and 2012, but deaths from prescription painkillers such as vicodin, percocet, and oxycodone tripled during that same time period.
The CDC says that in 1999 there were just over 4,000 deaths attributed to opioid pain killers; in 2012, there were over 16,000. These opioid analgesics include substances similar to heroin, and work via a similar mechanism.
This is truly a large scale problem.