I spent a good part of the morning in a meeting discussing recent research into societal cost of prescription drug abuse. Here are a couple of stats that got my attention.

Prescription drugs are now the most abused drug, surpassing marijuana among young people.

70% of the prescription drugs abused were obtained directly or from a family member (I may have this slightly misquoted, will correct if necessary).

Emergency room admissions for prescription drug abuse doubled from 2004 to 2008.

Now let's consider a few other factoids.

Narcotic opioid use in California's work comp system increased dramatically between 2002 and 2008, with several times more claimants receiving these potent, potentially-addictive medications.

Medical severity is also increasing in the Golden State; I'm not saying there's a cause:effect relationship here but rather drug costs and usage changes may be contributing to the problem.

OxyContin accounts for just under ten percent of comp drug costs. This drug has been widely associated with abuse; it can be ground up and eaten, inhaled, smoked, or dissolved and injected.

Sorry to ruin your day.