Drug Overdose Deaths Up 11th Year in a Row

For the 11th year in a row, the number of fatal drug overdoses have increased in the United States. In 2010, 38,329 people died as a result of a drug overdose and 22,000 of those were overdoses involving prescription drugs, according to the latest available statistics.

Of those 22,000 prescription drug-related deaths, three-fourths were caused by pain medication.

The National Center for Health Statistics reports that 74% of the 38,329 drug-related deaths in 2010 were accidental overdoses. Only 17% were attributed to suicide.

Unintentional Deaths

During the past 11 years, overdoses involving prescription drugs have elapsed those from illegal drugs like heroin or methamphetamine as a national epidemic of prescription drug addiction has exploded.

Opioids, painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, are involved in many unintentional overdose deaths when they are combined with other prescription drugs.

Deadly Combinations

The new study shows that opioids were found:

• In 77% of overdoses involving benzodiazepines.
  
• In 65% of overdoses involving antiepileptic or anti-Parkinsonian drugs.
  
• In 56% of overdoses involving anti-inflammatory or fever-reducing drugs.
  
• In 47% of overdoses involving antidepressants.

Benzodiazepines are tranquilizers or sleeping pills, such as diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), and clorazepate (Tranxene).

^{Source: Jones, CM, et al, "Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths, United States, 2010." The Journal of the American Medical Association. 20 February 2013.}

Related Information:

• Prescription Abuse Continues to Rise
  
• The Most Abused Prescription Drugs
  
• Using Drugs Without a Prescription Is Illegal

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