By Elaine Pozycki and Steve Pozycki
The over-prescribing of prescription painkillers is the main source of today’s opiate addiction epidemic.
Three out of four people who are addicted to heroin and other opiates started with a prescription pain reliever. Opiate overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, as well as in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. About 25,000 people die each year from these overdoses: 17,000 from opiate-based prescription painkillers, such as Vicodin and oxycodone, and 8,000 from heroin.