Prescription drugs can be hazardous to your health, and many are seriously addictive and can even kill.
However, a recent study in Florida, drug-related deaths in Florida reveals that far more people suddenly fall victim to lethal drug combinations – called polydrug abuse – that each drug, and can occur at the recreational users, as well as those trapped by addiction to prescription drugs.
It is common knowledge that addiction to prescription drugs has become a national nightmare.
However, the sudden death of prescription drugs is the subject of the news every day. The Florida study, an analysis of the 168,900 deaths in 2007 by the Medical Examiners Commission, Florida, found that deaths from prescription drugs are three times the rate of deaths caused by traditional illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
For example, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine caused 989 deaths, while the legal painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin caused 2328, the report said. And benzodiazepines, including antidepressants such as Valium and Xanax, led to 743 deaths.
Although the number of people who died with heroin in their bodies increased 14 percent to 110 deaths by the opioid analgesic oxycodone increased 36 percent by 1253 – more than 10 times longer than heroin.
Oxycodone is the heroine as an ingredient in the highly publicized and much battered painkiller OxyContin, is responsible for literally thousands of cases of prescription drug addiction, injury and death throughout the country. Obviously, heroin and oxycodone are interchangeable, and addicts are happy to get his hands on either drug.
However, digging a little further into the statistics, we begin to see how individual deaths poly dangers eclipse. The report shows in 664 deaths involved oxycodone in combination with other drugs, and only 41 himself.
Hydrocodone similar drugs such as Vicodin, Lortab, a lot of other brands and generically claimed 251 deaths in combination, and only 13 on its own. Propoxyphene, known as Darvon, has been linked to 76 deaths in combination with other substances, and only nine for himself.
Do not forget that the opioid analgesics, all on their own, are responsible for hundreds of times more cases of addiction to prescription drugs that the deaths, and each prescription drug addiction is a potential funeral waiting to happen.
Now come Psych drugs – antidepressants, antipsychotics, tranquilizers and beyond, so dangerous in its own way as lethal opioids.
Diazepam is widely prescribed as Valium, was implicated in 171 deaths when combined with other drugs, and only three by itself. And the alprazolam, known by the trade name Xanax, is linked to 556 deaths in combination with other substances, and only six deaths alone.
This in no way reduces the risk of addiction to prescription drugs caused by a single psychological drug on their own, either. Each in itself may cause dependency or addiction to prescription drugs, side effects, withdrawal to injuries and even death.
But 10 times more deaths from prescription drugs in combination with other drugs showed that polydrug abuse is a new and very serious problem.
For those who are still alive and seeking recovery, a combination of prescription drug addiction and polydrug abuse is a complex problem for medical detox drugs to deal with – most difficult to resolve in a single prescription drug . But thank God, when done correctly, the security solutions are possible.
In the final analysis, the Florida report clearly illustrates how quickly polydrug abuse and a life can end unexpectedly, before the victim has the opportunity to manage their dependence or addiction through a medical drug detox program.
