After listening to legislators, lawmen and physicians talk Monday about the difficulties of policing "pill mills," a mother shared the horror of burying her son after an overdose.

Richard Perry Jr. died at age 21 after struggling with an addiction to prescription drugs.

"The tears just flowed covering it," Karen Perry said about hugging her son's casket seven years ago. "I wanted so desperately to see and touch my son one more time. … There's nothing that we would not have done to save our son.more...... 

Millions of Floridians take prescription medication to reduce the effects of countless medical conditions. Pharmaceutical companies spend billions in marketing this or that drug in magazines, television, billboards and other outlets telling consumers how effective the drug is at alleviating a wide range of symptoms. But a glance at the front page of any newspaper will tell you that these prescriptions are not always safe. This Orlando Sentinel article sheds light on how dangerous some of these drugs can be.

A recent report conducted on drug-related deaths in Florida indicated that more fatalities occur from people taking prescription medication each year than from heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs. During the first half of 2009, oxycodone, Xanax, Valium and methadone caused the most medication-related deaths, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission. Oxycodone is a painkiller frequently prescribed for everything from broken bones to dental surgery to back pain and many other ailments and conditions. Valium and Xanax are well-known anti-anxiety medications. Methadone has been used for decades to treat heroin addiction.

The Commission found that oxycodone was the cause of 23 fatalities in the Orlando metropolitan area alone, with methadone claiming another 15 lives in and around Orlando. These drugs have been cited as the cause of even more deaths in St. Petersburg and other Florida cities. The Commission found that while communities in Central Florida lagged behind other area for drug-related deaths, the number of fatalities was a huge concern and ways to address the problem are being discussed.more....