HHS HealthBeat (December 31, 2008)

Overdosing – no prescription

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

West Virginia, the Mountain State, has one of the nation’s highest rates of death from overdoses of prescription drugs, many of them well-known painkillers.

Where are those drugs coming from?

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked into that. The scientists wanted to gain understanding that could indicate where people in other states might get their drugs, too.

Researcher Aron Hall:

[Aron Hall speaks] ``In our study, we found that a majority of people who overdosed on prescription drugs did not have prescriptions for the drugs that killed them.’’ 

Others had gone to multiple doctors to line up lots of drugs, some of which could be diverted – given or sold to others. The study says health care providers have to counsel patients about the dangers of sharing drugs.

The study was in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: December, 31 2008