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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana><SPAN class=maintitle><B><FONT size=6
face="Times New Roman">Drugs, though legal, can be deadly</FONT></B></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN class=abody><B><BR><BR>By Lisa Girion, Scott Glover and
Doug Smith</B></SPAN><SPAN class=abody> <BR><BR>Los Angeles Times</SPAN><SPAN
class=abody> <BR><BR>LOS ANGELES – Propelled by an increase in prescription
narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United
States, a Los Angeles Times analysis of government data has
found.<BR><BR><STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents
as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide,
according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.<BR></FONT></STRONG><BR>While most major causes of preventable death
are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last
decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents
have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto
safety.<BR><BR>Public health experts have used the comparison to
draw</SPAN><SPAN class=abody> <BR><BR>See</SPAN><SPAN class=abody><B> DRUGS, <A
style="COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: none"
href='javascript:parent.contents.gotoPage("A","A4");'><B>A4</B></A></B></SPAN>
<BR><BR></P>
<DIV><B>Article Continued Below</B></DIV>
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<A
href='javascript:parent.contents.setPJumpName("DRUGS");javascript:parent.contents.setPJumpDirection("1");javascript:parent.contents.gotoPage("A","A04");'>See
DRUGS on Page A04</A><BR><BR>
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<P></P><SPAN class=abody><SPAN
class=maintitle><B>DRUGS</B></SPAN></SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>Continued
from A1 </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>attention to the nation’s growing
prescription drug problem, which they characterize as an epidemic. This is the
first time that drugs have accounted for more fatalities than traffic accidents
since the government started tracking druginduced deaths in 1979.
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>Fueling the surge in deaths are prescription
pain and anxiety drugs that are potent, highly addictive and especially
dangerous when combined with one another or with other drugs or alcohol. Among
the most commonly abused are Oxy-Contin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. One relative
newcomer to the scene is Fentanyl, a painkiller that comes in the form of
patches and lollipops and is 100 times more powerful than morphine.
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>Such drugs now cause more deaths than heroin
and cocaine combined. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>“The problem is right
here under our noses in our medicine cabinets,” said Laz Salinas, a sheriff’s
commander in Santa Barbara, which has seen a dramatic rise in prescription drug
deaths in recent years. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Range of victims</SPAN> </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody>Overdose victims range in age and circumstance from teenagers who
pop pills to get a heroin-like high to middle-aged working men and women who
take medications prescribed for strained backs and bum knees and become
addicted. A review of hundreds of autopsy reports in Southern California reveals
one tragic demise after another: A 19year-old Army recruit who had just passed
his military physical took a handful of Xanax and painkillers while partying
with friends. A groom, anxious over his upcoming wedding, overdosed on a
cocktail of prescription drugs. A teenage honor student overdosed on painkillers
her father left in his medicine cabinet from a surgery years earlier. A toddler
was orphaned after both parents overdosed on prescription drugs months apart. A
grandmother suffering from chronic back pain apparently forgot she’d already
taken her daily regimen of pills and ended up double dosing.
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>Many died after failed attempts at rehab – or
after using one too many times while contemplating quitting.
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Legal, but not
so safe</SPAN> </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>The seeds of the problem were
planted more than a decade ago by well-meaning efforts by doctors to mitigate
suffering, as well as aggressive sales campaigns by pharmaceutical
manufacturers. In hindsight, the liberalized prescription of pain drugs “may in
fact be the cause of the epidemic we’re now facing,” said Linda Rosenstock, dean
of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health.
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>In some ways, prescription drugs are more
dangerous than illicit ones because users don’t have their guard up, said Los
Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Opferman, head of a task force on
prescription drug-related crimes. “People feel they are safer with prescription
drugs because you get them from a pharmacy and they are prescribed by a doctor,”
Opferman said. “Younger people believe they are safer because they see their
parents taking them. It doesn’t have the same stigma as using street narcotics.”
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>The triumph of public health policies that have
improved traffic safety over the years through the use of seat belts, air bags
and other measures stands in stark contrast to the nation’s record on
prescription drugs. Even though more people are driving more miles, traffic
fatalities have dropped by more than a third since the early 1970s to 36,284 in
2009. Drug-induced deaths had equaled or surpassed traffic fatalities in
California, 22 other states and the District of Columbia even before the 2009
figures revealed the shift at the national level. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Keeping track</SPAN>
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
collects data on all causes of death each year and analyzes them to identify
health problems. Drug-induced deaths are mostly accidental overdoses but also
include suicides and fatal diseases caused by drugs. The CDC’s 2009 statistics
are the agency’s most current. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>Drug fatalities
more than doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008. Deaths
more than tripled among people aged 50 to 69, the Times analysis found. In terms
of sheer numbers, the death toll is highest among people in their 40s.
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>Overdose deaths involving prescription
painkillers, including OxyContin and Vicodin, and anti-anxiety drugs such as
Valium and Xanax more than tripled between 2000 and 2008. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">‘Insatiable appetite’</SPAN>
</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>The rise in deaths corresponds with doctors
prescribing more painkillers and anti-anxiety medications. The number of
prescriptions for the strongest pain pills filled at California pharmacies, for
instance, increased more than 43 percent since 2007 – and the doses grew by even
more, nearly 50 percent. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>Those prescriptions
provide relief to pain sufferers but also fuel a thriving black market.
Prescription drugs are traded on Internet chat rooms that buzz with offers of
“vikes,” “percs” and “oxys” for $10 to $80 a pill. They are sold on street
corners along with heroin, marijuana and crack. An addiction to prescription
drugs can be costly; a heavy Oxy-Contin habit can run twice as much as a heroin
addiction, authorities say. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>The most commonly
abused prescription drug, hydrocodone, also is the most widely prescribed drug
in America, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Better known as
Vicodin, the pain reliever is prescribed more often than the top cholesterol
drug and the top antibiotic. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody>“We have an
insatiable appetite for this drug – insatiable,” Joseph T. Rannazzisi, a top DEA
adminis-trator, told a group of pharmacists at a regulatory meeting in
Sacramento. </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody><IMG
src="http://spokesmanreview.wa.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/washington/spokesmanreview/20110919/09-19-2011_spokesman_a_4_main_22380004.pdf.0/img/Image_5.jpg"
width=354 height=218> </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody><IMG
src="http://spokesmanreview.wa.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/washington/spokesmanreview/20110919/09-19-2011_spokesman_a_4_main_22380004.pdf.0/img/Image_2.jpg"
width=353 height=237></SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">MCT</SPAN> </SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Grace Schmidt
books evidence from an undercover prescription drug sting operation on a
downtown Los Angeles street.</SPAN> </SPAN><BR><BR></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>_______________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Wayne A. Fox<BR><A
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