Drug-Related Deaths – Prescription Meds Still Top The List

A quick scan of the headlines reveals a lot about the increase in deaths from heroin – between 2012 and 2013, heroin overdose deaths in the United States increased by 39%, from 5,925 in 2012 to 8,257 in 2013 (see Heroin Overdose Deaths Up 39% In 2013 and Heroin Overdose Deaths In U.S. Have Tripled Since 2010). Those stats certainly caught my attention. But, a little investigation reveals that in the U.S., the deaths due to heroin are still dwarfed by deaths due to prescription drugs.

In 2010, 22,134 deaths involved legal prescription pharmaceuticals (see 75 . . .