MIKE STOBBE, "Fatal overdoses on rise, says CDC", Monterey County
Herald, March 8, 2007,
Link: http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/living/health/16669587.htm

Unintentional fatal overdoses in the United States nearly doubled from
1999 to 2004, overtaking falls to become the nation's second-leading
cause of accidental death, behind automobile crashes, the government
reported.

The number of accidental drug overdose deaths rose from 11,155 in 1999
to 19,838 in 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

The report was based on death certificates, which do not clearly
detail which drugs played the greatest role.

But CDC researchers said they believe sedatives and prescription
painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin were the chief cause of the
increase.

OxyContin has been blamed for hundreds of deaths across the country in
recent years, becoming such a scourge in Appalachia that it is known
as ''hillbilly heroin.''

Deaths from falls climbed between 1999 and 2004 at a more modest rate,
from 13,162 to 18,807, the CDC said. Motor vehicle crashes accounted
for 40,965 fatalities in 1999 and 43,432 in 2004.

The South had one of the lowest fatal overdose rates in the nation in
1999, but it doubled by 2004. The South now ties the West for having
the highest rate -- about 8 per 100,000 population.

''This is the first study really to describe the large relative
increases in poisoning mortality rates in rural states. Historically,
the drug issue has been seen as an urban problem,'' said Dr. Len
Paulozzi, a CDC epidemiologist.

The federal report, issued this week, noted that accidental overdoses
remain most common in men and in people 35 to 54. But the most
dramatic increases in death rates were for white females, young adults
and Southerners

Other findings:

· The death rates for men remained about twice the rate for women, but
the female rate doubled from 1999 to 2004 while the male rate
increased by 47 percent.

· The rate for white women rose more dramatically than for any other
gender group, to 5 deaths per 100,000 population.

· The rate of overdose deaths among teens and young adults, ages 15 to
24, is less than half that of the 35-to-54 group. But it rose much
more dramatically, climbing 113 percent in the study years, to 5.3
deaths per 100,000 population.

About 50 percent of the deaths in 2004 were attributed to narcotics
and hallucinogens, a category that includes heroin, cocaine and
prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin.

Earlier research suggests that deaths from illegal drugs appear to be
holding steady.

''There is a misperception that because a drug is a prescription
medicine, it's safe to use for nonmedical reasons. And clearly that is
not true,'' said Dr. Anne Marie McKenzie-Brown, a pain medicine expert
at Atlanta's Emory Crawford Long Hospital.