The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a new report that undoubtedly surprised many across our nation: In Florida alone, prescription drug overdoses claimed 16,650 lives from 2003 to 2009 an average of eight deaths a day. Im sure they are wondering: What in the world is going on in the Sunshine State?
For me, and so many others on the frontline of fighting prescription pills abuse in Florida, the report documented an epidemic that we have lived with for more than a decade. Its been a devastating problem here, spread by the silence and misunderstanding over addiction and by the underworld pill mill economy run by rogue doctors and pharmacists who encouraged doctor shopping. We werent shocked by the CDC numbers showing that annual prescription drug overdose deaths jumped by 61 percent, from 1,804 to 2,905, during those years. Prescription medications, for example, were implicated in 76 percent of all drug overdose deaths in Florida, while drugs like heroin and cocaine were implicated in 33 percent of the deaths.
Prescription drug abuse is a part of daily life across Florida. You cant overlook it.
Go on the Internet, turn on the radio, and look at the billboards along highways, and theres countless advertisements for pain clinics offering incentives to visit their many locations, which are conveniently placed at major intersections and strip malls. Anti-drug advocates have done our best to counter this ad blitz and the general perception, especially among teenagers, that taking medicated pills isnt dangerous.
At Narcotics Overdose Prevention & Education (NOPE) Task Force, which was started in West Palm Beach following the back-to-back overdose deaths of several teenagers, we expanded our blunt school presentations to highlight how easy it is to overdose on pharmaceuticals. Our partner agency, Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office, established a solid profile of a typical victim of a drug overdose, based on information compiled from hundreds of drug-related death investigations. This profile is now being used to educate the public about the realities of who is susceptible to prescription abuse. And thats just part of our work.
Many other organizations in Florida have done their share as well to highlight the deadly effects of prescription drug abuse. Still, as we now know from the CDC statistics, none of this was enough to stop the fast spread of the epidemic.
Today, we have new and powerful forces in our court: a governor and state legislators who have passed measures to control excessive prescriptions by pain doctors and clinics; and President Obama whose administration has drafted a comprehensive action plan on prescription drug abuse. Tragically, hundreds of people are still dying from drug overdoses in the Sunshine State. But hopefully, in the very near future, these new government initiatives, along with all the grassroots educational efforts, will bring those numbers down and end this terrible chapter in our states history.
Karen H. Perry, NOPE Task Force
Karen H. Perry is the Executive Director of NOPE Task Force
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