DJ AM Gobbled 9 OxyContin Before Death: Source

Overdoses now leading cause of accidental death in Scioto County

(NEWSER) - Scioto County sits in the southern tip of Ohio, an unremarkable piece of Appalachia save for the deadly tidal wave of prescription drugs washing over its population. Overdoses have quadrupled over the past decade, reports the New York Times, and are now the leading cause of accidental death, ahead of even car crashes. One in 10 babies born here tests positive for drugs; the most popular among the area's addicts is OxyContin. “It was moving so fast that families were caught totally off guard," says a counselor. "They had no idea what they were dealing with.” More»

Staten Island leads the way

(NEWSER) - New York City's special narcotics prosecutor unveiled some eye-popping numbers about prescription drugs in the Big Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal :

• One million prescriptions for the pain reliever oxycodone—the generic name for Oxycontin—were filled in 2010. That's enough for 1 in 8 residents of the five boroughs, or 13% of the population.
• The percentage is 28% in Staten Island. Add in Vicodin, and it's 33%.
• The 1 million figure has doubled since 2007.

OD, breathing trouble noted on hospital charts after SUV crash

(NEWSER) - Tiger Woods was admitted to the hospital listed as an overdose after his SUV crash, according to sources at Florida's Health Central Hospital. Woods—whose wife handed paramedics bottles of Ambien and Vicodin—was having trouble breathing and doctors used a respiration tube to help him, the sources tell TMZ. More»

Jasinski says he used $500K prize to buy, sell painkillers

(NEWSER) - Big Brother 9 winner Adam Jasinski made his first court appearance today in Massachusetts after being charged with trying to sell 2,000 prescription painkiller pills. After a brief struggle with agents, the DEA says Jasinski waived his Miranda rights and confessed to using his $500,000 winnings from the reality show last year to set up an oxycodone ring, the Boston Globe reports. More»

Ex-addict got into close contact with drugs

(NEWSER) - Now that MTV is running the DJ AM reality show Gone Too Far—in which the recovering addict helped other addicts get clean—the question is tough to avoid: Did the show bring him too close to his demons and contribute to his death? It "could certainly have been a relapse trigger for Mr. Goldstein," a drug rehab expert tells the New York Times. "It crosses all of our minds," adds the network's president of programming. More»