Prescription Drug Abuse in Florida: An Epidemic of Deaths

Prescription Drug Abuse in Florida: An Epidemic of Deaths

Did you know:

-An average of 7 persons die everyday in Florida because of lethal overdoses from the illegal, non-medical misuse of one or more prescription drugs.

-An additional 7 persons die daily with at least one prescription drug detected often in combination with alcohol or other drugs. That is a total of 14 deaths per day in Florida related to prescription drug abuse.

-There were 5,275 persons who died in Florida during 2009 and another 2,579 in the first half of 2010 with at least one prescription drug in their system identified as either the cause of death or present in the decedent.

-Most of the deaths were preventable.

-Treatment admissions for prescription opioid addiction increased 5 1/2 times in Florida over the past decade. Among those aged 12 to 30, the number of prescription opioid treatment clients rose from 488 in 1999 to 7,649 in 2009, a 1,467-percent increase.

-The rate of hospital emergency department cases for non-medical oxycodone misuse among those aged 21-25 in South Florida is nearly double the national per capita rate.

-Florida leads nation in sale of oxycodone with over 400,000,000 pills sold annually.

-Benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax, Klonopin, Valium) and muscle relaxants (e.g., Soma) are also frequently linked to overdose deaths and medical emergencies across Florida.

-As one of only 12 sales without an operating Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Florida is a source supplier of illegally diverted controlled medications for the nation.

-Among Florida 12th graders in 2010, 11 percent have misused a prescription pain reliever non-medically in their life; 3.4 percent have done so in the last month.

-The number of infants treated for withdrawal symptoms in Florida hospitals increased 173-percent between 2006 and 2009; 635 cases were reported in the first half of 2010.


Published by United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse