It’s an American catastrophe that has been dubbed pharmageddon, though it rarely pierces the public consciousness. Occasionally a celebrity overdose will attract attention – Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson – but they are specks in a growing mountain of human mortality.
This list reminds me that I have meant to list some university students – or recent university graduates – who have in the last few months died of pain-killer overdoses.
Austin Box, University of Oklahoma.
Robert Mueller, Wake Forest.
Wilson Forrester, University of Arizona.
Hope Reichbach, New York University.
Michael Israel, University of Buffalo.
June 10th, 2011 at 11:26PM
Try the 2000 movie Requiem for a Dream, starring Ellen Burstyn. It doesn’t get more graphic on pill mills and their fallout.
June 13th, 2011 at 5:59AM
While the pill mills are real, and there’s no excuse for it, the pharmageddon piece was more sensational than informative.At least I’m not the only one who seems to think that:
http://reason.com/blog/2011/06/10/breathless-brit-reports-on-ame
The appeal to the Obama administration’s crowing about a public health crisis… surely the author could have found a less hypocritical and self-serving commentator than the WH.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/opinion/23blow.html?scp=20&sq=Holder+Drugs&st=nyt
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DD1F3AF93BA35756C0A9679D8B63&scp=2&sq=Holder+Drugs&st=nyt
I’ll concede that the above (pot) isn’t as much of a risk as opiates. However…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03rules.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/health/policy/07aging.html?scp=2&sq=elderly+pain+medication&st=nyt