From the LOS ANGELES TIMES:
Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found…
While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto safety.
Public health experts have used the comparison to draw attention to the nation’s growing prescription drug problem, which they characterize as an epidemic. This is the first time that drugs have accounted for more fatalities than traffic accidents since the government started tracking drug-induced deaths in 1979. Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found…
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EDITOR: To a large extent, this is the product of the War on Drugs. People take prescription drugs obtained illegally because they cannot readily obtain prescribed drugs, marijuana and harder drugs. Unlike with cocaine and heroin, the results are unpredictable.
Like Iraq and the attempt to democratize Afghanistan rather than just to drive out al-Qaida, with drug prohibition we are fighting still another foolish and lost war. Drug abuse should be treated as a public health, not a criminal justice matter as we do tobacco and alcoholic beverages. We should classify them for their inherent danger and treat them accordingly, permitting marijuana to be sold in liquor stores and harder drugs by prescription.
