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Jackson’s Death Prompts DEA To Renew Drug Abuse Warnings

Posted on: Saturday, 27 June 2009, 13:10 CDT

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday renewed concerns about an increase of deaths from misuse of prescription pills after rising questions about the possible role of drugs in Michael Jackson's sudden death on Thursday, AFP reported.

Jackson collapsed and died of an apparent cardiac arrest at his rented Los Angeles home, and some people close to Jackson revealed on Friday they had been concerned for some time about his use of drugs.

Following a mass of incoming calls related to prescription drug concerns, the DEA reposted on its website a May report into prescription drugs that showed more than 8,500 people in 2005 died from their misuse.

Drug abuse ranks only second to car accidents in overall accidental deaths and the report warned that more people died from drug abuse than in shootings.

Toxicology results from Jackson’s autopsy on Friday are not expected for several weeks.

According to celebrity website TMZ.com, Jackson had been administered an injection of the powerful painkiller Demerol about an hour before he lost consciousness.

Investigators spoke with the doctor who gave Jackson the dose, but they wanted to speak with him again, according to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Karen Rayner. Officers impounded the doctor’s car, which was parked at the mansion, late Thursday night.

U.S. data shows that the overuse of prescription painkillers, stimulants or tranquilizers that are opium-based or synthetically manufactured is rising.

There were more than 8,500 deaths nationwide in 2005, an increase of 114 percent on 2001 figures.

The DEA said hospital admissions caused by prescription drug overdoses leapt 74 percent from 2002 to 2006, and emergency room visits were up 39 percent.

The agency added that a majority of those needing treatment were aged between 18 to 25, and some six percent of Americans in that age group had admitted to using prescription drugs for non-medical uses from 2003 to 2007.

Most obtain the drugs by stealing them, hooking up to false Internet pharmacies or from friends and relatives.

Gil Kerlikowske, director of national drug control policy, said diversion and abuse of prescription drugs are a threat to our public health and safety that is similar to the threat posed by illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

Kerlikowske said drug-induced deaths in the U.S. exceeded firearm-injury deaths and ranked second only to motor vehicle accidents as a cause of accidental death in 2006—the last year such data was available.

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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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