Prescription drug overdoses spike in Orlando, Florida

Prescription drug overdoses spike in Orlando, Florida
Willoughby Mariano Sentinel Staff Writer
4:49 PM EDT, July 1, 2009
Deadly overdoses of anti- anxiety drugs and painkillers spiked in the Orlando area and across the state last year, experts said, evidence of the growing threat posed by the abuse of legal prescription drugs.

And in what experts say is a major shift, Florida deaths by anti-anxiety drugs, painkillers and a heroin treatment drug surpassed those from cocaine in 2008, according to a report released this week by a commission of Florida medical examiners. Cocaine caused the most deaths in 2007.

In Orlando and Osceola counties alone, deaths caused by an anti-anxiety drug often sold as Xanax killed 50 people, a jump of 61 percent.

"Not a week goes by, and sometimes, not a day goes by, without a [prescription drug] case," said Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the Orange-Osceola office's medical examiner. "It's unbelievable."

Anti-anxiety drugs were present in 130 bodies examined by the office, a 132 percent increase

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Prescription drug overdoses spike in Orlando