Drugs taken as directed kill more people every year than ‘drug abuse’

Since Philip Seymour Hoffman died from a heroin overdose, there’s been a lot of focus on the deadly epidemic of drug abuse in America.

And how many Americans fall victim to this plague every year? According to an NIH website, the number of deaths is around 40,000. Half of those are caused by illegal drugs and the rest from the abuse of prescription drugs.

But awful as that is, it’s not even half the number of deaths due to the side effects of perfectly legal drugs approved by the FDA, prescribed by a doctor, and taken according to the instructions on the bottle.

Believe it or not, there are over 100,000 of those a year!

And that doesn’t include the many thousands more victims of side effects who end up in the ER.

So you don’t just have to be a “drug abuser” to be a potential victim. Taking pharmaceuticals as directed can be even more dangerous.

Clearly the FDA is going to continue protecting Big Pharma and its bottom line instead of the people it’s supposed to protect. That’s why it’s so important to know all the potential side effects of any medications you take, watch for the slightest warning signs, and discontinue using them as soon as you can.

Sources:

“100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs, while pharma companies get rich” Daniela Perdomo, AlterNet, alternet.org

“Is US health really the best in the world?” Barbara Starfield, MD, MPH, silver.neep.wisc.edu