The total cost of illegal prescription drug abuse in the United States is valued at $72.5 Billion.

Source: National Drug Intelligence Center, “National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment 2009: Executive Summary,” United States Department of Justice, April 2009.

Abusing prescription drugs is the second most illegally used drugs in the United States after marijuana, according to the United Nations.

6.2 Million people in the United States were addicted to prescription drugs in the US in 2008.

Source:  Kate Kelland, “U.N. narcotics board warns of prescription drug abuse,” Reuters, February 24, 2010.

According to a survey done by pharmaceutical company Pfizer, 38 percent of Germans surveyed admitted to purchasing drugs without a prescription from black market sites online, the highest level in all of Europe.

Source:  “Kent laboratory finds growing counterfeit drugs market,” BBC News, February 17, 2010.

According to the most recent data available, the Office of the National Drug Control Policy found that between 2001 and 2005 overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers increased 114 percent to more that 8,500 deaths.

Source:  Robin McKie, “US stars are falling victim to prescription drugs,” Guardian, December 27, 2009.

7 out of the 10 most abused drugs used by high school seniors are either prescription drugs or over the counter drugs, according to a study by the University of Michigan for the National Institute for Drug Abuse.

Source:  Daniel B. Wood, “Report: marijuana, prescription drug use up among teens,” Christian Science Monitor, December 14, 2009.

According to the The Partnership for a Drug Free America, one in five US teens admitted to experimenting with prescription drugs.

Source:  Jonathan Blake, “US prescription drug abuse ‘growing’,” BBC News, December 1, 2009.

A state panel in Massachusettes reported that 3,265 people died from overdosing on either Oxycontin or heroin between the years 2002 to 2007.

Source:  John R. Ellement, “Special panel says state in midst of “epidemic” of OxyContin and heroin use,” Boston Globe, November 5, 2009.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, 40 percent of poisoning deaths in the United States between 1999 to 2006 involved opioid analgesics, or opium painkillers.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, “NCHS Data Briefs: Increase in Fatal Poisonings Involving Opioid Analgesics in the United States, 1999-2006,” September 2009, No. 22.

A study by the University of British Colombia found that use of OxyContin in British Colombia, Canada is primarily focused in rural areas of the province.

Source:  Vancouver Province, “‘Hillbilly heroin’ use common in rural B.C.: report,” October 5, 2009.

Around 12, 000 people visit emergency rooms in the United States because of overdosing on prescription pain killers.

Source:  Liz Szabo, “Prescriptions now biggest cause of fatal drug overdoses,” USA Today, September 30, 2009.