Here’s what prescription drug abuse has done to Ohio.

– in 2007, deaths from prescription drug abuse (PDA) in Ohio surpassed deaths from motor vehicle accidents.

– more people died from PDA in Ohio in two years than died in the World Trade Center in 2001.

– almost one in ten babies born in Scioto County tested positive for prescription drugs.

Around the nation, the numbers are equally terrifying.

– Prescriptions for opiates (hydrocodone and oxycodone products) went from 40 million in 1991 to nearly 180 million in 2007

– The U.S. consumes 99 percent of the world total for hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin) and 71 percent of oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin).

– PDA grew by 400% from 1998 to 2008. Four hundred percent.

And those are just the statistics.

Continue reading “Prescription drug abuse – are you complicit?” →