Drug Czar: MJ Death A Wake-Up Call

Calls Prescription Meds Abuse Nation's No. 2 Drug Problem

(CBS/AP)  The government's drug czar says that Michael Jackson's death is a wake-up call to the nation about prescription drug abuse.

---

Complete coverage of Jackson's life and death

---

Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, says more people are dying in the United States from drug overdoses than from gunshot wounds.

On "The Early Show," Kerlikowske said that parents are the key to addressing the problem of misuse of prescription drugs.

Kerlikowske says he's unable to talk about Jackson's untimely death while an official inquiry is still under way. But the drug czar emphasized that Jackson's death should alert the country to the peril posed by powerful drugs that can save lives when they are used properly.

Investigators looking into the cause of Jackson's death have homed in on drugs that were administered to the musician to fight his insomnia.

Prescription drug abuse is the nation's second largest drug problem, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (NDCP). More people are abusing prescription drugs, according to the NDCP, than any other illicit drug, except marijuana.

Facts about prescription drug abuse from Office of National Drug Control Policy:

- Each day, 2,500 teens try a painkiller for the first time.
- Especially troubling is that teens and their parents believe the prescription drugs are safer to use than street drugs. But when abused, prescription drugs can be just as dangerous.
- Seventy percent of teens who abuse prescription drugs say they get them from the home and from friends and relatives, often for free.

To safeguard your family, the Office of National Drug Control Policy suggests these tips:

1. Safeguard all drugs at home. Monitor quantities and control access.
2. Set clear rules for teens about all drug use, including not sharing medicine and always following the medical provider's advice and dosages.
3. Be a good role model by following the same rules with your own medicines.
4. Properly conceal and dispose of old or unused medicines in the trash.
5. Ask friends and family to safeguard their prescription drugs as well.

[tautomer]

Wow, the drug czar figures out that the extremely wealthy can purchase just about any drug they want! He's a genius!!!! Please save us from prescription drugs big daddy Drug Czar!

[wdlawrence]

I'm no superstar, but as a recovering drug addict whose drug of choice was prescription painkillers (opiates),I can understand, if only marginally, Michael Jackson's sad and tragic situation. Why the offical report regarding the tox-screen is pending, it seems clear that the cause of death is related to the abuse of prescription narcotics. Since his death, the news coverage has interviewed, among others, family members, entertainers, spiritual leaders and polititions. Each one of these individuals expressed their undying love for Jackson. My question is, if Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Brooke Shields, Deepek Chopra, even his brothers and sisters, loved Jackson as much as they now claim they do, where were they when he truly needed them? If they really, truly loved him as they claim, why did they do nothing to get him the help he so clearly needed? I am not a star, and when I die, my name and likeness will not be plastered on every news and entertainment channel from one end of the globe to the other. However, I have been blessed in one way that Mr. Jackson, sadly, will never know. Even though I alienated many people in my life because of my addiction, I had enough people who loved me, really loved me, enough to grab me by the scruff of the neck, push my face in a mirror and make me see what I had done to my life, and help me face the truth about my addiction, an addiction that surly would have killed me. I am thankful that those in my life who say they love me, loved me enough to tell me the truth, and not lie and enable me to the point of killing myself. Anyone who says they were a friend of Jackson and that they loved him, yet did not do all they could to help him face is addiction, should be ashamed of themselves.

[stn_sage]

Let me see if I have this correct?

Mr.Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, can't discuss Michael Jackson as he relates to drug problems--- but, he does have time to "use" him as an example of the bad things that can happen to you if you abuse drugs?!

Shameless! Typical bureaucrat, taking advantage of the dead!

[dragyn30]

This guy is an idiot!!! He makes no sense what-so-ever!!

Jackson was a 50 year-old man, not a teenager!!! He did not steal the pills from his parent's nightstand or medicine cabinet!

HE PAID DOCTORS TO GIVE THEM TO HIM!!!! No doubt he made sure that the Doctors were not aware of what drugs the other Doctors had written for him, and it looks like many different pharmacies were used so none of them would catch him.

I feel no pity for the fool who does himself in! I do feel sorry for those children!

[Sloughfoot]

Gil Kerlikowske-another maggot crawling atop the dead meat.