Experts say it’s easy to see why so many Americans are abusing prescription drugs. As Americans age and carry extra pounds, more are asking for pain relief to cope with joint problems, back pain and other ailments. And because they’re typically used legally, the stigma of being a junkie is often eliminated. Addiction to prescription drugs, which kill thousands of Americans a year, has become a largely unrecognized epidemic.
According to recently released statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overdose deaths from opioid painkillers that included morphine and codeine, more than tripled from since 1999 to 13,800 deaths a year. USA Today reports that about 120,000 Americans end up in the emergency room after overdosing on opioid painkillers each year, and prescription drugs in general cause most of the more than 26,000 fatal overdoses annually.
In the past, most overdoses were due to illegal narcotics, such as heroin. The former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse said, “The biggest and fastest-growing part of America’s drug problem is prescription drug abuse.” And prescription painkillers have now surpassed heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of fatal overdoses.
One contributing factor may be the fact that conventional doctors have bought into the drug paradigm hook line and sinker. For example, as described in USA Today, a long-term treatment plan for pain will typically include a drug-combination approach, using anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-convulsants, and muscle relaxants. And although, aggressive drug marketing is often blamed for increased and inappropriate use of painkillers, another factor may be the cultural acceptance of prescription drugs (a pill for every symptom!) that may have replaced the need for excessive marketing of these dangerous drugs. People can simply get painkillers by asking their doctor and filling a prescription at the drugstore without anyone looking at them twice.
