By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
In an effort to curb an “alarming” increase in overdose deaths from narcotic pain meds, new legislation will cap the strength of the dose a physician can prescribe, the Yakima Herald-Republic writes in a story in today’s newspaper.
Some 700 people in the state die each year from such overdoses, according to news reporter Phil Ferolito.
In Lewis County last year, all 14 people who died from drug overdoses were found to have done so accidentally.
Only two or three of those deaths came from street drugs, the rest were prescription medications, most commonly something like Oxycodone and often in combination with other prescribed meds, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.
Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris, who has been compiling annual reports for the past five years, has said 2010’s numbers did not seem to be significantly different from previous years.
At the same time, the number of medical practitioners prescribing medical marijuana – which one doctor quoted calls the most “innocuous drug” out there – has grown dramatically since last year, according to a story in The (Tacoma) News Tribune today.
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Read “Law limiting narcotics a painful remedy for some patients” from The Yakima Herald-Republic on Saturday October 1, 2011 at 10:17 p.m., here [1]
Read “Despite changing rules, medical marijuana field has exploded statewide” from The (Tacoma) News Tribune on Saturday October 1, 2011 at 7:37 p.m., here [2]