Drug News Prescription drugs kill more people than illicit drugs
By Sue Mueller
Jun 18, 2008 - 8:09:06 AM
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The Florida Medical Examiners Commission this week released
a report saying that "the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three
times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined", The New York
Times reports.
The conclusion was derived from an analysis of 168,900 autopsies
performed in 2007 in Florida.
According to the report, cocaine, heroin and all
methamphetamines caused a total of 989 deaths while legal opinoid drugs -
strong painkillers in brand name drugs such as Vicodin and OxyContin, caused
2,328.
The number of people was found to have heroin in their dead bodies
increased 14 percent in 2007 to 110 while deaths related to opinoid oxycodone
increased 36 percent to 1,253.