Drug poisoning deaths on the rise

[flashl]

Poisoning continues to be the second-leading cause of injury deaths in the USA, outstripping deaths caused by firearms for the second year in a row, a federal report says.

For 40 years, deaths caused by car crashes and firearms have topped the list of injury deaths in the USA. Poisoning edged into the No. 2 position in 2004, and the report shows the trend continues for 2005, the latest year for which numbers are available. The report is published in the March Health E-Stats.

Death rates for automobile accidents and firearms did not change much from 1999 to 2005, but the latest analysis shows that the rates for fatal poisonings increased at a dramatic pace and that narcotic drugs are responsible for the majority of the increase.

...

A second study, this one published in February, blames one narcotic drug specifically for the lethal trend: methadone, a drug often prescribed to treat chronic pain.

USA Today

This explains FDA warning yesterday. See: FDA warns King Pharmaceuticals on Avinza promo

[Warpy]

1. Methadone blocks the high

and junkies will take more and more of it or another opiate trying to chase that elusive high. It's a dangerous drug for anybody who's still looking for a high and not looking to be straight enough for 24 hours to hold down a job.

Poisoning by prescription is on the rise, too, with special thanks to all the advertising on TV to people who are not qualified to diagnose and treat themselves and who will doctor shop until they find one willing to prescribe a drug to get rid of them.

Ending the drug war and ending unethical pharmaceutical practices like direct advertising will decrease these deaths, but we'll need a sea change in public opinion before either happens.

[Donnachaidh]

2. HBO had a documentary on not too long ago called Methadonia

And they said that many junkies were getting an alternative high from mixing Xanax and Methadone, they used a term I cannot remember. I wonder how much this sort of thing figures into the mix?

They should BAN prescription drug advertisements period.

[fed-up]

3. 2 residents at the "clean and sober" across the street from me OD' on methadone in last 6 months

not one mention in the local paper

not one story about the former resident that gave his prescription to the residents that died

I was told one of the dead had just gotten a job and was NOT suicidal-he was a mere 26 years old