Online Pharmacy Medicine Blog

Until recently, it was more common for celebrities to die from illegal drugs than from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. But as prescription drug abuse has become a larger problem for our society as a whole, we have seen an increasing number of celebrities die as a result.

Just since 2007, we have lost Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith and now, possibly, King of Pop Michael Jackson because of prescription drugs.

“This is not something that has been unexpected… because of the medications which Michael was under,” Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman said shortly after the singer’s death. Jackson reportedly was taking Xanax, Zoloft and Demerol at the time of his death.

Which drugs are the most likely to cause accidental drug deaths? In many cases, it’s not one drug — it’s a combination of drugs that can be deadly when taken together.

Here are 10 of the most famous accidental celebrity prescription drug deaths and the medications that caused them. You’ll notice several no prescription drugs that have played a role in multiple celebrity deaths, including Valium, Xanax and Vicodin.

1. Marilyn Monroe: Nembutal, chloral hydrate

2. Elvis Presley: Placidyl, Dexedrine

3. Judy Garland: Seconal

4. Howard Hughes: Valium, codeine

5. Heath Ledger: OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Valium, Restoril

6. Dorothy Dandrige (1940s/50s actress): Imipramine

7. Dana Plato (Diff’rent Strokes): Vanadom, Vicodin

8. Keith Moon (The Who): Heminevrin

9. Rob Pilatus (Milli Vanilli): methadone

10. Robert Walker (1940s/50s actor): sodium amytal

A Utah mother who lost her son to OxyContin abuse is taking her case to Washington, D.C., and fighting to have the prescription drug taken off the market.

Sandra Kresser’s son Josh died three years ago of a drug overdose after a long battle with addiction, which began when he was prescribed OxyContin after back surgery.

Kresser says the drug is simply too addictive and too dangerous:

At this point we are now calling for a ban on OxyContin. If the FDA doesn’t, then the people on the FDA need to be replaced because they are not doing their job to protect the safety and well being of the American public.

In 2007, prescription drug overdoses led to more deaths in Utah than either car accidents or illicit narcotics.

Kresser is urging concerned Americans to sign an OxyContin petition asking the FDA to ban the drug. It reads in part:

OxyContin has been implicated in many times more U.S. deaths than caused by 9/11 and the Iraq War combined since Purdue Pharma began producing and selling it in 1995. OxyContin is molecularly almost identical to and acts in the body in the same manner as heroin…

In 2007, Purdue and three top executives of Purdue Pharma pled guilty in Virginia in relation to misleading the public about the addictive qualities and safety of OxyContin and paid fines totaling over $634 million. But no Purdue Pharma executive went to jail and the FDA has allowed OxyContin to remain on the market…

By signing this petition, you are requesting the FDA to immediately ban the distribution of OxyContin to new patients…

The signatures page of the petition includes many heartbreaking stories. Here are just a few of them –

Mindy Savage: My husband is a recovering OxyContin addict. His addiction started after needing surgery for a broken femur. We are so blessed to still have him with us. It is a long hard battle that does not just hurt the individual, but the family as well.

Shay L. Clements: My older brother has been addicted to this for a couple years now. It’s a single pill that will take over your life just like heroin. I don’t see how these doctors can just prescribe them out like it’s nothing. If I could have one wish in this world it would be to ban OxyContin.

Carla Whiting: I work at a hospital and I see how many people’s lives are destroyed by addiction to pain medications. It sickens me to see the effects of addiction, particularly addiction to prescription medications. I am so glad that someone finally is standing up against such a horrible pandemic.

Kresser is heading to Washington to speak with lawmakers and FDA officials next week.

Hundreds of patients die every year in the United States after taking powerful prescription painkillers like OxyContin. Now the FDA is taking action to prevent this drug and others from being prescribed too cavalierly by physicians. It plans to only permit doctors who have completed a specific training program to prescribe a list of 24 narcotic drugs.

According to eFluxMedia, the FDA has previously avoided restricting physicians’ prescribing habits:

The FDA avoids interfering with the practice of medicine because doctor behavior is governed by state medical boards. However, the agency still tries to provide doctors with the best and most current information, and then allows them to decide how to use it. It’s interesting to see that most of the drugs withdrawn over the last 20 years were taken off shelves because doctors continued to use them in a way the FDA strongly disapproved.

Dr. John K. Jenkins of the FDA told the New York Times:

“What we’re talking about is putting in place a program to try to ensure that physicians prescribing these products are properly trained in their safe use, and that only those physicians are prescribing those products,” Dr. Jenkins said in a news conference on Monday. “This is going to be a massive program.”

OxyContin, an extended-release formulation of oxycodone, was first introduced to the United States market by Purdue Pharma in 1996. One of the reasons for its increased populariy — and abuse — has been Purdue’s aggressive marketing of the drug to physicians.

This has included claiming, inaccurately, that the drug was less addictive than other opiate drugs. Purdue also marketed the drugs to general practitioners, who in many cases were less knowledgeable about the drug than specialists. Purdue has pleaded guilty to felony charges for its misleading claims; now the FDA hopes to increase its control over the doctor side of the equation.

While this program is a step in the right direction, it will likely do little to end the problem of doctor shopping — whereby patients attain prescriptions for painkillers from a variety of physicians.