By Eugene Walton, for Countable.us

No, really, way more people die from prescription drug overdoses than either heroin or cocaine. As it turns out, people like drugs, a lot. In 1999, about 4,000 people died from prescription drug related overdoses. This trend experienced continuous growth, but began to accelerate quickly in 2006. In 2010, the number of prescription drug-related overdoses stood at a whopping 16,600. In fact, more people die from drug overdoses of all kinds, than in automobile accidents or from gun crime. Interestingly, deaths related to cocaine use (which is after all… a hell of a drug) has actually declined by about 45% in the same period of time. View a report summary published by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, here

Why are people overdosing on prescription drugs? Unfortunately, there is much better evidence on the outcome variable (deaths by drug overdose) than on its potential causes. In my opinion, the best evidence is still anecdotal, and it isn’t as simple as soccer moms/dads sneaking little white pills in their minivans. What follows is conjecture… Damn good guesses, but conjecture nonetheless.

(1) A general increase in the marketing and subsequent use of prescription drugs among all Americans. The Mayo clinic reports that as much as 70% of the American public, uses at least one prescription drug per day. About 50% use at least two prescription drugs per day. The incredible power of the drug lobby is clearly a factor, but perhaps too large a story to be treated here. What is clear from my time sitting in waiting rooms, is that the prescription drug folks are definitely in the building. Furthermore, just like any good drug dealer… They’re always smiling, well dressed, and carrying an opaque black satchel.

(2) The legal drug market is also a black market. Most people who gain access to prescription drugs, do so through their doctors or from friends (either for pay or for free). It is by now well documented that differing state laws have caused an explosion in the growth of pain clinics (which are essentially drug dispensaries) in certain states that accept out-of-state patients. Those states without tight restrictions that border states with relatively strict prescription drug laws become drug meccas for individuals and organized groups participating in different illicit drug markets around the country. For a long time, Florida has been just such a state, and as a result experienced an otherworldly increase in prescription drug related overdoses. Eventually, Florida developed a monitoring program and established tighter controls on prescription drugs.

(3) Freaky weird American drug culture. American’s have been, let’s say funny and inconsistent around drug policy since… Well, forever. The general rule has been that if your group does a drug, its weird and should be stopped, and if my group does it… #LegalizeIt. And if Mary-Louise Parker can make it somehow sexy, then its a hit TV show! So the fact that prescription drugs (much like alcohol) have not generally been stigmatized, means that more people are willing to try them and fewer people are careful about their use.

(4) Economic downturn. If I were to channel the geeks at Freakonomics, I would probably suggest that the combination of economic downturn and the 2003 expansion of the Medicare drug benefit, may explain the shift from illicit drugs to the prescription variety. Furthermore, the failed roll out of Medicare Part D, may explain the lag effect.

Never fear, congressional action on the prescription drug epidemic is on the way!

Read and Vote on the bill at Countable.us.

Whoa, okay, if the tone of the bill seems a lot less urgent than the disaster scenario I’ve just described to you, you’re right. This bill takes a very small step. More disturbing, though, is that it is not at all clear which direction that step is in. The bill before Congress would commission a study to examine how to curb prescription drug abuses, but it would also consider how increased enforcement of said abuses would impact patient access to drugs. So which is it, are we headed towards tighter controls on prescription drugs, or not?

#Vote #PrescriptionDrug #Overdose #MedicarePartD #LegalizeIt