RX drug overdoses in Florida up 61 percent in 6 years

RX drug overdoses in Florida up 61 percent in 6 years

By Bob LaMendola, Sun Sentinel

8:24 p.m. EDT, July 7, 2011

Fatal prescription drug overdoses jumped by 61 percent in Florida from 2003 to 2009 and claimed 16,650 lives, federal health officials said in a new analysis Thursday.

The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documents a trend that state officials have noted for years. It led to new laws over the past three years, most recently July 1, to control excessive prescriptions by pain doctors and clinics. Among the CDC's findings:

Prescription drug overdose deaths: Up 61 percent. There were 2,905 in 2009, compared with 1,804 in 2003. Each victim took a lethal dose of at least one prescription drug.

Prescription drug death rate: Up 84.2 percent. For every 100,000 Floridians, there were 13.4 deaths in 2009 vs. 7.3 in 2003.

click headline to continue...