Prescription drug abuse going up in southern Ariz.

“We're seeing these in adults who are abusing these for recreational purposes and also in accidental overdoses as people are combining more and more medications.”

Prescription-drug abuse is claiming the lives of an increasing number of southern Arizonans, fed by an easily abused pharmaceutical system, ever-increasing availability and our proximity to Mexico.

Experts also cite the safe reputation of pills and law-enforcement agencies' difficulties in catching abusers as contributors to the trend, which is affecting a wide range of people, but especially young adults.

An average of two people have died each week in Pima County this year from the misuse or overuse of pharmaceutical drugs, according to the Pima County Medical Examiner. Read more