Lufkin, TX — The death toll from prescription drug overdoses more than tripled in the past decade, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Texas, 5.5 to 9.4 per 100,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2008. Officials call this issue an epidemic, especially for Native Americans and whites, as the number of overdose deaths is now greater than deaths from heroin and cocaine combined.

“It’s become quite an epidemic in the last decade,” said Janet Taylor, executive director of The Coalition of Angelina County. “They’re using drugs without a prescription, so they don’t know the interactions, or they are just doing it to get high. They’re mixing it with alcohol, or they are clinically depressed and trying to end their life.”

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