Didn't see this posted, sorry if it is old news. Interesting read. Troubling news. I internally debated whether this was D&D material but... Drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in U.S., data show By Lisa Girion, Scott Glover and Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times September 17, 2011, 2:55 p.m. Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found. Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto safety. (article continues but is too long to post it all) http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-drugs-epidemic-20110918,0,4000089,full.story
Front-seat passenger takes the wheel while the driver sparks a bowl and eats the cake. Seriously dude, THINK.
The prescription drugs that are being overdosed on are illegal. People aren't overdosing on the Oxy prescription they are getting for their surgical recovery (or whatever legitimate reason it was prescribed to them). They are overdosing on the stash of Oxy pills they are buying from their pusher (who may or may not be a doctor) for recreational use, which is illegal. I appreciate the sentiment and think that all drugs should be legalized, but the underlying premises of your statement are faulty.
To anonymous repper- Yes, I read the article. My comment: was a tongue-in-cheek observation that outlawing drugs is useless. People are going to get high no matter what, and the prescription drug abuse epidemic is proof of that. Prohibition is useless and a drain on our tax funds.
This seems contradictory to me. Deaths from the abuse of prescription drugs would indicate to me that a legalize-and-regulate strategy for recreational drugs is doomed to allow widespread drug abuse just like prescription drugs allow abuse. That it's prescription drugs that is the driver of the growth in drug-deaths and not illegal recreational drugs would be an argument in favor of an outright ban. I don't want to send this to D&D with another legalization argument (that I don't even want to participate in). I just don't see how this article is really an arrow in the legalization quiver.
