by Amel Ahmed @amelscript August 30, 2013 Fatal overdoses have reached epidemic levels, exceeding those from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the CDC Painkillers including OxyContin (pictured) claim more lives than illicit drugs such as cocaine, according to new study.Michael Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Images Prescriptions for painkillers in the United States have nearly tripled in the past two decades and fatal overdoses reached epidemic levels, exceeding those from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At the same time, the first-ever global analysis of illicit drug abuse, published this month in the British medical journal The Lancet, found that addictions to heroin and popular painkillers, including Vicodin and OxyContin, kill the most people and cause the greatest health burden, compared with illicit drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. High-income nations, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, had the highest rates of abuse, 20 times greater than in the least affected countries, according to the Lancet study. In the United States, enough painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around the clock for one month.
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