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CDC: Deaths Soared As Narcotic Painkillers Grew Popular
Donna Leinwand Leger, USA TODAY 12:08 a.m. EST February 25, 2015
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Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets are the generic version of Vicodin.
(Photo: Sue Ogrocki, AP)


Deaths from prescription narcotic painkillers have soared as the opioid drugs became more popular and powerful, a new federal study found.

Four out of five people who used a prescription narcotic painkiller in 2011 to 2012 took pills equal to or stronger than morphine, according to statistics made public Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control National Center for Health Statistics. The percentage of people who took painkillers stronger than morphine, which include such drugs as fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone and oxycodone, grew from 17% in 1999 to 37% in 2012, the study found.

Use of narcotic painkillers, such as Vicodin and OxyContin, has also grown. In 1999, 5% of adults 20 and older reported using a narcotic painkiller. Four years later, that number grew to 7%, where it has remained, Sales of the drugs quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, the report said.

The CDC has called prescription painkiller abuse an epidemic. In 2012, 16,007 people died i from overdoses involving opioid painkillers, triple the number who died in 1999, a 5% decrease from 2011 when 16,917 people died, the CDC reported last year.

In September, Attorney General Eric Holder expanded a prescription drug return program that allows hospitals and pharmacies to accept excess drugs, including narcotic pain relievers. Last year, the government also placed new restrictions on medicines that contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, such as Vicodin and Lortab, which limited patients to a 90-day supply per prescription.







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