Close friend to Jackson, Deepak Chopra, reported that Jackson had asked him for prescriptions to pain killers in the past. Chopra said that he then realized that Michael must have been asking many people for prescriptions to the powerful drugs.
In an article in the Huffington Press, Chopra in part blames Jackson’s dependence on these drugs on medical colleagues who failed to realize Jackson’s growing addiction could lead to his death.
Jackson is known to have taken prescriptions ranging from Xanax to Demerol.
Oxycodone and hydrocodone are both synthetic opiate pain relievers similar to Demerol which Jackson is reported to have been injected with shortly before his cardiac arrest.
It is unfortunate that prescription drug abuse becomes alive as a topic for media discussion after a celebrity death. Anna Nicole’s and Heath Ledger’s deaths took center stage earlier, but the problem with prescription medication abuse continued to increase and emergency rooms are still seeing too many accidental overdoses.
In a recent press conference Joseph A. Califano Jr., the National Center on Drug Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University’s director and president said:
"Aggressive marketing of controlled drugs to physicians . . . is designed to increase profits with little regard for abuse potential, Our nation is in the throes of an epidemic of controlled prescription drug abuse and addiction."
The ease by which many Americans can get a prescription for powerful pain medications and psychiatric drugs is alarming.
More than 15 million Americans abuse controlled substances—double the amount from a decade ago, according to a report issued by CASA.
This represents a clear problem for America because there is virtually no increase in drug treatment available and no controls on marketing.
Narconon of Georgia provides drug treatment and education for the entire southeast region. Narconon Drug Rehab of Georgia is a non-traditional drug abuse treatment program.
