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Michael Jackson: News We’d Rather Not Have
4 Comments After the news hit about the death of Michael Jackson and all the speculation about his possible prescription drug use, the NIDA press office phones rang off the hook. Why? News reporters wanted information on prescription drug misuse and abuse.
We talked to the NIDA Communications Director, Carol Krause (pictured right), about how they handle calls like that.
Sara Bellum Blog: How many calls does NIDA get when news like this hits?
Carol: Well it depends on the celebrity and how definite the news is. With Anna Nicole Smith, speculation was immediate that drug abuse was involved, so we got a lot of calls from the press right away. With Heath Ledger, people weren’t so sure, and the inquiries came gradually, over a period of weeks.
SBB: And Michael Jackson?
Carol: Within a few hours of his death, the NIDA press office got maybe a dozen calls from major news reporters wanting information on prescription drug abuse. They were doing research in case toxicology reports came back saying that medication misuse contributed to the pop icon’s death.
SBB: And what do you tell them?
Carol: We treat this like any other inquiry. We give them facts. The fact is that between the years of 1999 and 2005, the number of accidental deaths from drug overdoses in this country more than doubled to 22,448.
SBB: Really? Why?
Carol: The biggest problem is the increased misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers—opioid narcotics like Vicodin and OxyContin.
SBB: Is this a problem with teenagers?
Carol: Absolutely. For the past five years, one in ten high school seniors have reported they use Vicodin without a prescription—one in twenty have used OxyContin.
SBB: Why isn’t the press reporting this?
Carol: Oh they are. The question is—are teens listening?
SBB: I’d like to think teens are smart enough to know that using medications without a prescription can be dangerous. What is the take away lesson from Michael Jackson’s death?
Carol: That we don’t need a tragedy like this to learn how to make smart decisions about your health. The information you need is right here on the NIDA website.
I’m so happy to see that the government is commenting on a timely topic like this one–I’d hoped to see a response of this nature when Heath Ledger died last year. Thank you!
Added to my RSS, Thanks!
An excerpt from our recent article on Michael Jackson:
“Lest you be confused about this drug thing, there is little difference between illegal/recreational drugs, and prescription drugs, with the exceptions being the legitimacy of the “entity” which produces them, who gets to prescribe them, and whether politicians benefit. Drugs be drugs.
“Take it from some guys who matured (arguably) during the drugs, sex, and rock and roll years. We know lots of successful doctors, business people, family people, accountants, judges, and pillars of society who once used drugs in many a form and fashion. Fortunately for most of them and for society, they appreciated that drugs might be an interesting pastime, but not a life long journey.”
The issue of prescription drug abuse needs to start with the physician prescribing. What do the physicians receive from prescribing the unnecessary and excessive drug prescriptions? This act of increasing our health care costs because the patients/clients are not able to care for themselves because of the toxic levels requires more healthcare and direct care providers, increasing the costs for each and every one of them. As a Bachelor of Science Registered Nurse can say from my experience, in the hospitals, long-term care and in homecare, it is happening everywhere. The bottom line is that physicians and the pharmaceutical companies are making billions. People need to be more reluctant to allow their physicians to prescribe the number of medications. With the prescription, it is legal, but it is unethical. The physician’s code of ethics states, “To do no harm”.
It is difficult for me to work direct care nursing because it is against my principals and my nursing education to administer these medications, because it is excessive and often duplicating for the same diagnosis.
I hate to say this, but believe that some nurses are not practicing because of where we are with this issue, and no respect for our experience and education backgrounds.
spelling corrections, please delete the previous input, Drew