Every day more than 40 people die in the United States from an overdose of prescription medication. While that statistic may not terrify you, the fact that it has increased almost 400% over the past five years should!

According to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH 2010), prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing health problem in the US with about 7 million people regularly using prescription drugs for non-medical purposes (2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.)

People are not taking care of the underlying problem. If they have an ache or a pain, they want a pill to take care of it. And there are too many providers out there ready to write a prescription thinking they’re helping and they’re not, and it’s dangerous.

Pill sharing, doctor shopping and Pill Mills are all contributing to this prescription drug abuse epidemic. It is way too easy to get prescription drugs from a friend or family member’s medicine cabinet or shop doctors to get a fix and feed an addiction. And because these drugs are prescribed by a doctor, many get the false impression that prescriptions are safe.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported 1 in 20 people in the US ages 12 and older reported using prescription painkillers non-medically in 2010.

On top of this prescription drug epidemic, many young adults are using designer drugs such as Bath Salts, Dragonfly and Spice that are legal, and can be deadly.

What will stop this epidemic problem of people using illegal pills? Five percent of the population 12 and older taking illegal medications is ludicrous!

When you think of Boeing what comes to mind? Airplanes, of course. Ah, but a lot more goes on at Boeing besides aircraft!

Agents from the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrested employees and former employees of Boeing’s Ridley Park, Pennsylvania plant and one non-employee in a coordinated, long-term, undercover effort aimed at prescription drug abuse at the manufacturing plant.

Of course, the company, Boeing, is in no way culpable here, but this certainly is press that the company does not need as it continues to battle Airbus for supremacy in the aircraft industry. Of course, like many companies, including General Electric, Boeing is most definitely diversified in to many industries.

Indictments against 23 individuals were unsealed today charging each with the illegal distribution of a prescription drug. The drugs being distributed by these defendants include but are not limited to fentanyl (Actiq), oxycodone (Oxycontin), alprazolam (Xanax), and buprenorphine (Suboxone). The charges allege that each defendant either sold a controlled substance to an FBI cooperator or bought what was believed to be a controlled substance from the cooperator but which was, in fact, a placebo.

The drugs were being distributed on Boeing’s property. Boeing officials brought their suspicions of drug activity to federal law enforcement and have cooperated fully with the long-term investigation.

Drug abuse and the illegal sale and purchase of controlled substances are serious criminal problems in the U.S. today. The abuse of prescription narcotic drugs can be as dangerous and devastating as the use of illegal drugs.

Well, if there is a positive side to this thing it is Boeing – they didn’t try to sweep something under the rug and stood up and helped law enforcement.