Bill Macfadyen

<p>Unlike methamphetamines or heroin, which could have been made in a stranger’s garage, a uniformly manufactured pill from a pharmacy is considered a paragon of safety.</p>

<p>The nation’s largest — and latest — study of illicit drugs found an explosion of marijuana use among Americans age 12 or older in 2010. The National Survey on Drug Use &amp; Health concluded that marijuana users are largely to blame for the continued increase in illegal drug use, which include

<p>Alcoholism forced 20-year-old Amy to move away from Santa Barbara and everything she knew. She had begun drinking at age 16 and a pattern of dependence started soon after, forcing her into a succession of rehabilitation facilities before she moved to Oklahoma in an attempt to break the cycle.

<p>Many Americans might cite cocaine or heroin if asked to identify the country’s leading cause of overdose deaths.</p> <p>Wrong answer.</p>

<p>Police kicked in the door of a Lompoc motel room where they suspected drug activity was taking place, and officers swarmed in to arrest the two people inside. Syringes were scattered about the floor. A couple had been injecting the prescription medication methadone, a drug used to treat severe

<p>At a fundamental level, a person’s health decides whether he or she will live or die.</p>

<p>It’s not a pretty picture. Just as it is in our country, drug abuse is out of control in our community. In what will come as a surprise to many readers, however, the problem is not limited to illegal narcotics like cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Some of the most often abused drugs —&nbsp;and the most addictive — are perfectly legal medications prescribed by one of the professionals you trust on the most personal of levels, your doctor.</p>