There were 42,917 poisoning deaths in 2010, with drugs accounting for most (38,329) of those. Opiate analgesics such as oxycodone (Percocet) accounted for 43 percent of all drug overdose deaths, the CDC says.More Americans now die from drug overdoses than from car accidents and the numbers just keep going up, as you can see from chart below from the CDC.
There were 42,917 poisoning deaths in 2010, with drugs accounting for most (38,329) of those. Opiate analgesics such as oxycodone (Percocet) accounted for 43 percent of all drug overdose deaths, the CDC says.
On a related note, authorities in New York last week charged one Dr. Hector Castro for writing prescriptions for oxycodone for patients he had never met. In an even more bizarre twist, prosecutors say unbeknownst to him, Dr. Castro's office assistant, Patricia Valera, was also handing out sham prescriptions, at an even higher price. The pair were among 49 people arrested in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania after an 18-month investigation that began with the oxycodone overdose death of a young man in Woodbridge, N.J., the New York Times reported.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom has repeatedly argued that the proper way to combat opiate abuse is to go after criminals not making access to the drugs difficult for patients in real need. You can read his January op-ed entitled When Medicine and Law Enforcement Mix, Patients Lose here.
