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Recreational Drugs FAR Less Likely to Kill You than Prescribed
Drugs!
By Christopher Kent, D.C., J.D.

Recreational drugs, including cocaine and heroin, are responsible for
an estimated 10,000-20,000 American deaths per year [1,2]. While this
represents a serious public health problem, it is a "smokescreen" for
America's real drug problem. America's "war on drugs" is directed at
the wrong enemy. It is obvious that interdiction, stiff mandatory
sentences, and more vigorous enforcement of drug laws have failed.

The reason is simple. Cause and effect have been reversed.

The desire to solve problems by taking drugs is a product of our
culture. When a child is taught by loving parents that the
appropriate response to pain or discomfort is taking a pill, it is
obvious that such a child, when faced with the challenges of
adolescence, will seek comfort by taking drugs.

Drugs are Dangerous Whether Pushed or Prescribed

While approximately 10,000 per year die from the effects of illegal
drugs, an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) reported that an estimated 106,000 hospitalized patients die
each year from drugs which, by medical standards, are properly
prescribed and properly administered. More than two million suffer
serious side effects. [3]

An article in Newsweek [4] put this into perspective. Adverse drug
reactions, from "properly" prescribed drugs, are the fourth leading
cause of death in the United States. According to this article, only
heart disease, cancer, and stroke kill more Americans than drugs
prescribed by medical doctors. Reactions to prescription drugs kill
more than twice as many Americans as HIV/AIDS or suicide. Fewer die
from accidents or diabetes than adverse drug reactions. It is
important to point out the limitations of this study. It did not
include outpatients, cases of malpractice, or instances where the
drugs were not taken as directed.

According to another AMA publication, drug related "problems" kill as
many as 198,815 people, put 8.8 million in hospitals, and account for
up to 28% of hospital admissions. [5] If these figures are accurate,
only cancer and heart disease kill more patients than drugs. Has the
situation improved since the publication of this information? Hardly.
Null [6] et al have published the most comprehensive and well-
documented study I have seen of deaths associated with medical
practice. In this report, their research revealed some shocking
facts. The findings are summarized in the abstract:

"A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review
journals, and government health statistics shows that American
medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people
having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed
medicine is 2.2 million. Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995,
said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for
viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to
tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics.

The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed
annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary
hospitalization annually is 8.9 million. The total number of
iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936. It is
evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of
death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual
death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251."

Drugs Number One Killer

The authors conclude: "When the number one killer in a society is the
healthcare system, then, that system has no excuse except to address
its own urgent shortcomings. It's a failed system in need of
immediate attention. What we have outlined in this paper are
insupportable aspects of our contemporary medical system that need to
be changed -- beginning at its very foundations."

A recent article in Archives of Internal Medicine [7] stated that in
the seven year period from 1998 through 2005, reported serious
adverse drug events increased 2.6-fold, and fatal adverse drug events
increased 2.7-fold. The authors noted that reported serious events
increased 4 times faster than the total number of outpatient
prescriptions during the period. Another study concluded that the
majority(86%) of the adverse drug reactions for which patients were
admitted to a medical intensive care unit were preventable. [8]

One proposed solution to the illegal drug problem was encouraging
potential users to ignore peer pressure and "just say no."
Interestingly, this strategy is not being recommended for
prescription drugs. Bruce Pomeranz, MD , one of the authors of the
JAMA paper, said he is not warning people to stay away from
drugs. "That would be a terrible message," he said. Lucian Leape, MD,
of the Harvard School of Public Health said, "When you realize how
many drugs we use, maybe those numbers aren't so bad after all." [4]

Does that mean that the number of deaths due to illegal drugs,
suicide, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, accidents, and drunk driving "aren't so
bad" either? Does it mean that we shouldn't discourage drunk driving
or unsafe sex?

The folly of such double standards should be obvious to all. It is
time to address the real drug problem -- the cultural notion that the
first solution to seek for relief of life's problems is a drug.
That's the drug culture we need to address.

References

"Drug deaths." Globe & Mail (Canada). February 27, 1998.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC. 2007;56(05):93-96.

Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN: "Incidence of adverse drug
reactions in hospitalized patients." JAMA 1998;279:1200.

Kalb C: "When drugs do harm." Newsweek. April 27, 1998. Page 61.

"Reaction." American Medical News. January 15, 1996. Page 11.

1. Null G, Dean C, Feldman, M, Rasio, D, Smith D: "Death by
Medicine." Life Extension. March, 2004.
www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_01.htm

Moore TJ, Cohen MR, Furberg CD: Serious adverse drug events reported
to the Food and Drug Administration, 1998-2005. Archives of Internal
Medicine 2007;167:1752-1759.

8. Rivkin A: Admissions to a medical intensive care unit related to
adverse drug reactions. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
2007;64(17):1840-1843.