Tennessee Drug Induced Death: A CDC Report
In 2006, according to a CDC report, a total of 38,396 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States This category includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of legal or illegal drugs, but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use, as well as newborn deaths due to the mother’s drug use. In Tennessee, 1030 deaths were caused by drug usage both legal and illegal. See, cdc.gov/wonder
These results are indicative of the endemic drug problems in society as a whole and Tennessee in particular. Drug abuse cuts across economic, generational and law related lines. For example, The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports in 2007 that 73% of our fellow citizens view drug related problems as either extremely or very serious.BJS Drug Statistics. Is there an area of the law that is not impacted by the reality of these concerns? Just this week, a nine month old child was placed into state custody when the parent's home was raided and a methamphetamine lab was discovered. CA drug bust. Recently, actor Dennis Quaid and his wife are suing a hospital because their children were given a massive dose of blood thinning drugs made by Baxter Pharmaceuticals.. The product liability lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in damages and claims Baxter was negligent in packaging different doses of the product in similar vials with blue backgrounds. The lawsuit also says Baxter should have recalled the large-dosage vials after overdoses killed three children at an Indianapolis hospital in 2007.
While these two events are at the opposite ends of the legality spectrum, both point to a logical conclusion. Legal and illegal drugs severely impact upon children in all areas of their lives and, sadly, sometimes causes their deaths. I can offer no solutions to these tragedies. We can all only hope that as time passes, a solution can be fashioned based on common sense and rule of law. I am going to dig further into this knotty issue and I will try and write on the impact of drug use or abuse on divorce and custody cases. More to follow.
