How big a problem is prescription drug overdose? We see the
country’s surging number of deaths involving prescription drugs
as an epidemic. In 2008, the most recent year for which we have
national figures, more than 36,000 people died of drug overdoses
in the U.S., and more than 20,000 of these overdose deaths were
from prescription drugs. We have seen this number steadily
increase over the last decade. A specific class of prescription
drugs known as prescription painkillers—also called opioid pain
relievers and including drugs such as OxyContin (oxycodone),
Vicodin (hydrocodone), and methadone—is driving this increase.
In 2008, nearly 15,000 people died from overdoses involving
these drugs. This is more than three times the number of people
who died from these drugs in 1999. Why has the rate of
prescription drug overdose risen so sharply? In the last decade,
sales of these drugs have increased 300%. This increase has been
paralleled by increases in abuse and overdose of these drugs.
These trends are all conn