Prescription drugs can be as dangerous as illegal drugs

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Prescription drugs can be as dangerous as illegal drugs

By KRISTEN COPELAND

Prescription drugs can be just as deadly as street drugs - look at Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith.

Now, think about the hundreds of other stars taking a variety of pills. And the thousands of other people in the country you won't read about.

Illegal street drugs make headlines. But prescription drug abuse is just as dangerous.

"Mostly I work with children who have this false sense that they're safer because they're not off the streets," said Paul Vitagliano, Prevention Director at Insight House. "Somebody made them in a factory, they're FDA approved and that it would be okay...they take a little more than they are supposed to."

It's certainly not a new concern. Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley fell victim a number of years ago. Now, a new generation is tapping in to what can be an easy to come by high.

"One family member is supposed to be taking a pain killer for example," Vitagliano said. "And another family is gouging him off it...just going and taking it himself to get high or selling it because of the high resale price."

Heath Ledger's death was ruled an accidental overdose. He wasn't trying to kill himself, it just happened. Just like it can happen to any one of us....or our kids. The difference, Ledger's death is an example.

"We have a program that we institute in schools with 315 celebrities because kids relate with celebs very easily," he said. "People we all see all the time who have either overdosed, died, DWI's are in rehab."

The solution is simple. Lock up the medicine cabinet.

Also, tell your kids why you're taking pain killers, or cough syrup or sleep medication. Because everything can be abused if it falls into the wrong hands.

Tuesday, Feb 26 at 10:59 PM Steve Hayes wrote ...

As the director of Novus Medical Detox, I see daily the effects of prescription drug addiction--the epidemic that is threatening to consume our children and ourselves. This addiction respects no gender, age or economic class. We have young people coming to our facility who have been taking legal heroin, OxyContin, or legal cocaine, Ritalin, or Xanax since they were 12. We have to educate our society and hold people responsible for drugging our kids. Steve Hayes http://novusdetox.com

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