Prescription Drug Abuse and Death

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) every year 15,000 people die from prescription pill overdoses more than heroin and cocaine combined. Many people are using prescription medications, especially narcotics, for nonmedical purposes. In 2010, the CDC found that twelve million Americans reported non-medical use of prescription painkillers. Unfortunately, we struggle with loved ones who have this addiction and we see the demise of this disease played out with our role models. Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith, Brittany Murphy, Cory Haim and Whitney Houston are a part of the prescription abuse epidemic and have contributed to all their deaths in some way, shape or form. The disease of addiction does not discriminate and all of these talented people had their lives cut short due to addiction. Many of us have loved ones who suffer from prescription pain pill addiction. It is hard to watch them destroy themselves and our fear is that they will die. The celebrities listed above have left behind parents, children, friends, significant others who will be permanently impacted by the selfishness of the disease of addiction.