According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every overdose death from prescription painkillers, there are 10 treatment admissions for painkiller abuse, 32 emergency department visits for the misuse or abuse of painkillers, 130 people who abuse or are dependent on painkillers, and 825 people who take prescription painkillers non-medically".
Cardinal's crackdown on Mr. Pavlovich was a sign of a new approach by the D.E.A. to stem the growing misuse and abuse of painkillers.
The Food and Drug Administration took an important step last week to curb an epidemic of overdose deaths from misuse of prescription painkillers that contain hydrocodone, such as Vicodin, Lortab and their generic equivalents, in combination with another painkilling drug.
Recently, I learned that the No. 1 cause of accidental death in the U.S. now stems from misuse of prescription painkillers.
New figures – compiled from the first survey which questioned people using a computer, rather than face to face – reveal that almost two million of us misuse painkillers as a way of relaxing.
By many accounts, the widespread misuse of prescription drugs, particularly opioid painkillers, such as OxyContin, began in the late nineties and rapidly became a chronic problem.
These scientists say they are upset by how their research has been distorted by prosecutors in this case, and suppressed by the Drug Enforcement Administration in its campaign against the misuse of OxyContin and other opioid painkillers.
Federal officials have called the misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers an epidemic.
"While we have knowledge about the misuse or abuse of these painkillers, we have to focus on education," he said.
Even for those of us who don't inhale, the misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers called opioids should matter because, putting moral and ethics aside for the moment, it's costing us billions of dollars.
