Opiode analgesics, mostly pharmaceutical drugs, account for half of this increase. I don’t see how the war on drugs has all that much to do with doctors over-prescribing drugs like codeine, morphine. methadone, meperidine (Demerol), hydromorphone (Dilaudid), and oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet). Details here:
http://www.drugabuse.ca/opioid-analgesics
We hear horror stories of teens from good families and nice neighborhoods dying from these things. A drug counselor told me about a high school kid who regularly broke into neighbors homes to steal their pills…and in an upscale neighborhood. I asked what he would advise the parents and he said, “Take out an insurance policy on the boy’s life.” Because the kid was beyond help. My friend the counselor was very distressed about these kids. I know another family, quite prominent, with the same problem…spend hundreds of thousands on rehab after rehab since their son was 12, but it’s only a matter of time.
Doctors in places like Miami have “pain clinics” where they indiscriminately prescribe these drugs to anyone who walks through the door. Should they be prosecuted? A resounding YES from me.