Prescription drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental deaths in the US. Forty percent of these deaths are from opioid prescriptions. Over the past three decades the number of drug poisonings has increased sixfold, and there are now more than 36,000 deaths annually in the US. Between 1999 and 2010 physician prescriptions for opioids increased fourfold. Emergency room visits for problems with pharmaceutical drugs doubled from 2004 and 2009.
