Meet your new drug dealer
Forget coke, crack and smack -- because legal meds are giving street drugs a run for the money.
We've become a nation of dopers, and you don't need a shady dealer on a street corner to get high anymore.
Your doctor will do just fine.
The latest numbers reveal a sad and shocking milestone: Legal meds like painkillers and sedatives now send as many Americans to emergency rooms each year as hardcore street drugs: 1 million people.
Move over, Mary Jane!
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says ER trips due to the "nonmedical" use of painkillers alone shot up 111 percent over five years, to 305,885 in 2008 from 144,644 in 2004.
Oxycodone led the way with 105,214 ER visits, while hydrocodone accounted for 89,051 and methadone claimed 63,629, according to the numbers in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In case you're wondering, the numbers are up across the board. Men? Up! Women? Up! Under 21? Up! Older than 21? Up, up -- and away!
There's just one area that's not up -- street drugs. But that shouldn't be a big surprise -- who needs street drugs anymore when a completely legal high is just a copay away?
The CDC says it's concerned by the increase -- which would almost be funny if so many lives weren't at stake. The feds also claim that urgent action is needed, but don't hold your breath waiting for that.
You and I both know that the last thing the Pharma-funded U.S. government will ever do is take "urgent" action against the drug companies to save your puny little life.
Save yourself instead -- treat all drugs like the dangerous meds they are... and never, ever take them unless you really, truly need them.
Keeping off the streets,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
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Back to Eden communities
Sunridge -261 Oakhill Drive, Brantford
backtoeden.ontario@gmail.com
www.backtoeden.bravehost.com
"Building elder peer communities that are cozy,caring and comfortable" -quality 24/7 care
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