The woman, who chose to remain anonymous to protect her husband's family, said her husband took about nine Somas a night, which he said he needed to sleep, according to CNN news. The man became addicted to the drug after it was prescribed to him when he was injured in a car accident. His wife said she thought doctors were still prescribing the drugs. They were not.
In the current climate of prescribed drugs being advertised for any and all possible ailments, there has been an increase of people using pharmaceutical drugs, and when they can no longer get prescriptions, some are turning to the Internet.
For the CNN report, a journalist ordered two different kinds of drugs online and had them delivered within days. He'd never seen a doctor, and did not know who the doctor was that was listed on the label of the drug bottle.
Prescription drugs are often over looked as harmful because of their intended medicinal properties. However, according to the Center for Disease Control unintentional poisoning deaths, which is what overdosing on drugs is considered, have been steadily rising since 1992, and in 2005 unintentional poisoning was the second leading cause of accidental death after car crashes, especially among those in the 35-54 age range.
Medical officials are concerned about the ease at which pharmaceutical drugs are available on the Internet, and ongoing investigations are in place. Authorities reportedly seized roughly $39 million in cash, bank accounts, property and computers in 2007 during their Internet drug investigations.
The CDC said the majority of unintentional poisoning deaths from drugs are from opioid pain medications. Those kind of drugs are not available on-line.
