The Pill Plague: Deaths by the Score

When you travel outside the Appalachian area you realize fairly quickly that people don't realize the danger from the abuse of prescription drugs. Nevertheless, when you examine the statistics in the 2009 Medical Examiner's report it becomes obvious that pills are the greatest danger faced by all areas of Virginia.

Area	Overdose by Prescription Drug	Overdose By Illegal Drug
Central	99	51
Northern	85	40
Tidewater	68	29
Western	181	10

Of course, the western part of the Commonwealth (the mountains) has the worst problems with prescription drugs compared to always illegal drugs. However, in the rest of the Commonwealth the prescription drug problem causes approximately a 2:1 level of deaths compared to the always illegal drugs. Nevertheless, you seldom hear about this problem in the rest of Virginia; they don't seem to realize the depth of the problem yet.

For those of you who might be vitiated because people commit suicide with prescription drugs, the ME's report also tells us that the number of accidental deaths (overdoses) for prescription drugs in 2009 is 322. There were also 103 suicides by prescription. The 322 prescription overdoses compare well over a 2:1 ratio with the number of overdose deaths from always illegal drugs (128).