Tracking Accidental Drug Deaths (broadcast Friday, August 1st, 2008)

image by Flickr user 'FillmorePhotography'

Deaths due to mixing of prescription medications with alcohol or street drugs have increased by over thirty times in recent years, according to research published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine. A study of over 200,000 deaths from medication errors from from 1983 to 2004 revealed that deaths at home from combining medications with alcohol and/or street drugs increased by a startling 3,196 percent. We'll talk with one of the authors of the report about the study, and what the research might mean.