Report: overdoses now kill more people than traffic accidents
There are now more deaths in he United States caused by drugs than by automobile accidents, according to a story in this morning#8217;s Los Angeles Times. The claim is based on preliminary 2009 figures from the Centers for Disease Conrtol and Prevention. This development can be attributed to a rise in fatalities associated with powerful prescription analgesics such as hydrocodone, as well as a reduction in traffic-related deaths because of improved safety measures such as air bags. The story notes that unlike the case with other causes of preventable death, the number of drug deaths has been rising, doubling in the last 10 years.  Drugs now claim a life every 14 minutes. While worth reading, the LA Times piece is unclear on some important issues.  For example, it doesn#8217;t go into...

Abuse risks and routes of administration of different prescription opioid compounds and formulations
Conclusions: Unadjusted risks observed here were consistent with rankings of prescription opioid abuse obtained by others using different populations/methods. Adjusted risk estimates suggest that some, less widely prescribed analgesics are more often abused than prescription volume would predict. The compounds/formulations investigated evidenced unique ROA patterns. Baseline abuse patterns will be important for future evaluations of TRFs and REMS. (Source: Harm Reduction Journal)