Pubdate: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398 US FL: Prescription Drugs, Homegrown Marijuana Big Problems PRESCRIPTION DRUGS, HOMEGROWN MARIJUANA BIG PROBLEMS TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- State officials say prescription drugs accounted for nearly three-fourths of the 7,741 overdose deaths in Florida last year. The statistic was presented to Gov. Charlie Crist and the state Cabinet at a drug abuse seminar Tuesday. "I guess it has this cloak of legality about it because they're made by a legitimate company instead of grown in somebody's field somewhere," Crist said. "Nevertheless it's just as detrimental, can be just as destructive, so we again just have to work that much harder." The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also released numbers showing 3,980 autopsied bodies in the first six months of 2007 had one or more drugs in their system, mostly prescription drugs at lethal and non-lethal levels. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek