Recent Events in the News

Overdose Fatalities Reach Milestone

Posted on Oct 14, 2011

According to new data compiled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by the LA Times, 2009 was the first year in which drug overdose deaths exceeded traffic deaths in the US since the government began counting in 1979. 2009 saw 37,485 overdose deaths and 36,284 traffic deaths.

While the drug fatality rate has doubled in the last ten years (claiming one life every fourteen minutes), traffic deaths have steadily declined by more than a third since the early 1970s even though more drivers are racking up more miles. Experts credit public traffic safety policy, like seat belts and air bags.

Recent increased drug use is related to an rise in the prescription of pain (OxyContin, Vicodin) and anxiety drugs (Valium, Xanax). Vicodin is the most regularly abused of the bunch and overall use has increased threefold from 2000 to 2008. Fentanyl is the newest such narcotic, with a strength a hundred times that of morphine. These prescription drugs are particularly dangerous when mixed with alcohol or other drugs and now cause more deaths than both heroin and cocaine, combined. Prescription drugs are sometimes thought to be more dangerous because users feel protected by the legitimate and official manner of the doctor/pharmacy transaction. A black market, often on the internet, has developed to supply the growing habit.

The Times makes the case that this trend has its origin in the attempt by the medical community to mitigate suffering. As such, efforts have been designed to stem the tide through regulation. Voluntary initiatives, drug-monitoring programs, and other efforts have thus far been unsuccessful, leading some to admit that, "we don't know a lot about how to reduce prescription deaths"

MORE INFO

If you would like more information about how medical malpractice and accident cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational website. If you have legal questions, I urge you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com to answer your questions. That's what I do every day. I welcome your call.

Gerry practices law exclusively in the State of New York. Within New York he practices primarily in the following counties: New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk. Technically, Brooklyn is known as "Kings County," and Manhattan and New York City are known as "New York County." Staten Island is known as "Richmond County." These counties make up the New York metropolitan area.