Let's work our way up from the bottom of the list of drugs that killed people in Florida in 2007. Florida has 15 million adults. Marijuana killed none of them in 2007. Methamphetamines, 25 people. Heroin, 110. Alcohol, 466. Cocaine, 843.
Tranquilizers actually caused slightly fewer deaths than cocaine - 743 - although more than alcohol and heroin added together. Vicodin/OxyContin - 2,328. And prescription drug fatalities have been growing steadily and are increasing far more rapidly than illicit drug use and fatalities.
Although prescription addiction is more upscale (witness Cindy McCain), it has been more common than addiction to herbal drugs for decades. And Florida is the capital of pharmaceutical abuse, addiction, and death. Anna Nicole Smith died in Florida of prescription drug misuse. The former governor's daughter (and niece of the president), Noelle Bush, has been treated for her addiction to medications. And Rush Limbaugh cruised the streets of Palm Beach (actually, he had his maid do it) scoring OxyContin.
