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As of 2008, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared that drug overdose had become the second leading cause of unintentional death, just behind motor vehicle fatalities. However, more recent evidence is showing an exponential surge in drug overdose deaths, caused specifically by prescription drugs. Prescription medications are still considered by some to be non-toxic or harmless, as opposed to illicit drugs, which are universally identified as being deadly. Prescription medication, however, can be just as toxic, and is accessible to anyone of any age who can purchase them legally with a prescription, find them in a parent’s medicine cabinet, or gain them by means of prescription forgery or diversion—also known as “doctor shopping.”
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Kansas City teenagers are increasingly getting hooked on prescription painkillers and eventually turning to heroin. About 18 months ago, police officers in Johnson County started finding that more and more victims of heroin overdose were high-school students.
