What proportion of those overdoses are for PRESCRIPTION pain killers?
Docs kill more than guns.
I doubt many are taken by the prescribee
I ran a small water company, 300 homes, for 30 years. I read their meters. I had a good relationship with everyone. Three confided in me that they were hooked. One in his Fifties, two in their Eighties! Oxycontin.
“...Heroin overdose death rates increased by 26% from 2013 to 2014 and have more than tripled since 2010, from 1.0 per 100,000 in 2010 to 3.4 per 100,000 in 2014...”
Assuming a population of 320 million, that would be about 10,900 deaths from Heroin.
“...Opioids, primarily prescription pain relievers and heroin, are the main drugs associated with overdose deaths. In 2014, opioids were involved in 28,647 deaths, or 61% of all drug overdose deaths...”
So it would appear that prescription pain relievers are responsible for at least 17,500 or so deaths.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6450a3.htm?s_cid=mm6450a3_w
Answer in the article.
It's true that overdose by prescription drugs is the leading cause of overdose deaths, but that's a trick: The CDC classifies all opioid pain reliever deaths as "prescription" opioid overdoses — whether or not an actual doctor or "prescription" was involved. Guess who's moved into the "prescription" drug business in a big way? That would be Mexico.
Docs kill more than guns.
A rather silly statement.