Overdose Deaths Spike

Kermit, West Virginia, home to die-hard addicts

(NEWSER) - A tiny coal-mining town of barely 300 people and no supermarket is home to one booming business: pharmacies. In Kermit, West Virginia, two Sav-Rites alone moved 3.2 million doses of hydrocodone in 2006—a tad more than the 97,000 doses the average pharmacy sells in a year, reports Salon . Their customers were pill addicts from all over the Eastern seaboard. Now prosecutors have closed the Sav-Rites, but more "pill mills" are cropping up in a game of Whac-A-Mole against America's biggest drug menace today: prescription medicine. More»

Pharmacies sold equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone in 2010

(NEWSER) - Prescription painkiller addiction is a problem that's only getting uglier, reports the AP after analyzing a slew of DEA and pharmaceutical figures. The report focuses on sales of America's leading two prescription painkillers: oxycodone (the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan) and hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco, and Lortab). Among its more stunning findings:

• Addiction, long rooted in Appalachia and tony suburbs, has begun to spread well beyond those two centers; hydrocodone sales are specifically increasing in the Midwest

Wrong-way starlet pleads guilty to DUI

(NEWSER) - Giving the cast of The Simple Life an 0-for-2 record in the California courts, Nicole Richie was sentenced to 4 days in jail today after pleading guilty to driving the wrong way on an LA freeway while under the influence of drugs. The skeletal starlet must attend 21 days of alcohol-education classes and pay a $2,048 fine, E! Online reports. More»

Medical records will be subpoenaed

(NEWSER) - The investigation into Whitney Houston's death is now turning to her doctors and pharmacies. Investigators are expected in the next few days to serve subpoenas on the singer's physicians and the pharmacies where Houston obtained multiple prescription drugs, reports the Los Angeles Times . Officials aim to determine whether the drugs were dispensed properly, and if the singer was receiving too many prescriptions, a source tells the newspaper. Investigators will likely pore over a state-created database of controlled substances prescribed in California. Tracking celebrity prescription drug use can be complicated because they may regularly use drugs prescribed to aides, according to law enforcement authorities. More»

Annual study shows 4th straight increase in marijuana use

(NEWSER) - Pot smoking among teenagers is increasing while teen alcohol consumption has sunk to historic lows, according to a national survey . Of 47,000 American students surveyed, 36.4% of 12th-graders had used marijuana in the past year, up from 32% in 2007, as had 28.8% of 11th-graders and 12.5% of 8th-graders. One in 15 high school seniors smoked pot daily, and one in nine smoked "synthetic" pot at least once. More»