Fatal painkiller overdoses hit record

Fatal painkiller overdoses hit record

The number of fatal overdoses OxyContin most commonly abused painkiller has increased to an all-time record over the past decade, according to the CDC painkiller overdose record triple they have increased. In 2008, more people died from painkiller overdoses than from two illegal drugs painkiller overdose deaths top cocaine and heroin combined.

Deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses in the US have reached "epidemic" levels over the past 10 years and now account for more fatalities than heroin and cocaine combined, government health officials said Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report that drugs like Vicodin, oxycodone and methadone were to blame for 14,800 lethal overdoses in 2008 -- more than three times the 4,000 who died of painkiller overdoses in 1999.

That rate has increased nearly in step with the pace of painkiller sales to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors' offices, which has quadrupled in the past decade. The rate of prescription painkiller sales in 2010 reached 7.1kg per 10,000 people, which, the CDC said was enough "to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month."

"Although most of these pills were prescribed for a medical purpose, many ended up in the hands of people who misused or abused them," it added.

Last year, 12 million Americans reported taking prescription painkillers for non-medical, or recreational use.

The rates of painkiller deaths and sales varied widely by state. Notorious "pill mills" have made Florida the epicenter of prescription drug sales in the US and sales per person in the state were more than three times higher than in Illinois, which has the lowest rate.

Meanwhile, overdose death rates ranged from 5.5 per 100,000 people in Nebraska to 27 in New Mexico, the CDC said.

Among key demographic subgroups, the CDC found that many more men than women died of overdoses

from prescription painkillers; middle-aged adults had the highest overdose rates; and people in rural counties were about two times more likely to overdose than city dwellers.

To combat the growing misuse of drugs, the CDC urged health care providers only to prescribe painkillers to "carefully screened and monitored patients" when alternative treatments have not been sufficient to treat pain.

Health officials also recommended that states crack down on pill mills and use prescription drug monitoring records and insurance claims information to identify and address inappropriate prescribing and use by patients.