Deaths Caused by Prescription Painkillers, Heroin Triple
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Credit: James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data on Tuesday indicating that deaths related to prescription painkillers and heroin tripled between 1999 and 2012.
The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics noted that in that 13-year span, the number of deaths from prescription drugs, Vicodin, Percocet, and Oxycodone, reached 16,000 in 2012. In 1999, that figure was just over 4,000.
The CDC notes that these opioid painkillers include substances similar to heroin — which also caused three times as many deaths in 2012 as in 1999.
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