Prescription Drugs Have Claimed Another Life

Corey Haim was a teen actor who appeared in numerous movies in the 1980's, such as Lucas, Licence To Drive, and The Lost Boys. He was found in his mother's home dead of a prescription drug overdose early Wednesday morning, March 10, 2010.  When will it be enough? When will people learn from the unfortunate lessons of those that have died before them? Haim is the latest in a long line of young celebrities who have died of drug overdoses.

Corey Haim and Corey Feldman were just two of the many child stars that fell into the drug lifestyle. With way too much disposable income and too much visibility, the order of the day was party, party, party. It is sad when a young life is snuffed out needlessly.

The phrase, "I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan;" is from the English translation of the original version of the Hippocratic Oath and was intended to address the issue of euthanasia. However, the doctors that have prescribed an overabundance of narcotics and tranquilizers to a long list of celebrities throughout the decades would do well to remember what medicine stood for in the beginning.

There are conflicting beliefs of where the original oath came from, only that is widely known in Greek medical texts. The main point is that a handful of physicians will prescribe anything that the celebrity wants either for money or for the chance to be close to fame and the famous.

This list to the right illustrates the dangers of prescription drug overdoses. So many people have died from either accidental or deliberate overdoses. Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson were both victims of greedy M.D.s. It is not only celebrities that have these problems. The population at large is using more and more prescription drugs to get high. The danger is often downplayed due to the fact that a doctor prescribed them.