Prescription Opioid Deaths Increasingly Common
A new report published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety shows prescription opioid-related OD deaths are on the rise much more quickly than heroin and cocaine-related deaths. "Between 1999 and 2002, the number of overdose deaths linked to opioids increased by 91.2 percent...compared to 22.8 percent for cocaine and 12.4 percent for heroin."