Senators Press for Solution to Painkiller, Antipsychotic Abuses

Fearing an "epidemic" of death and defects from the illegal use and improper prescribing of painkilling and antipsychotic drugs, senators Thursday pressed a panel of doctors and health-care officials about how to stop the problem.

"It is tragic, it is sad, it is needless, it is fraudulent, it is horrible," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D.,W.Va), chairman of the Finance subcommittee on health. "And it is costing so much money that could be spent elsewhere."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used the term epidemic in the fall in reporting that deaths from overdoses of painkillers had more than tripled in the last decade and surpassed heroin and cocaine deaths combined. State and federal authorities have tried to arrest those running so-called pill mills, at which painkillers are sold illegally.

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Senators Press for Solution to Painkiller, Antipsychotic Abuses