Authorities are investigating whether a new designer drug played a role in a gruesome Los Angeles homicide that involved a young actor.

Due to the rise in prescription drug abuse, the number of drug-related deaths in the U.S. now outnumbers traffic fatalities, the Los Angeles Times reports.
 
Although the number of deaths from most preventable causes is declining across the nation, the death toll from drugs is steadily rising.  Every 14 minutes, someone in America dies from drugs.
 

Legislative Action Comes in Memory of Ryan Creedon

Ryan Creedon overdosed on OxyContin on September 4, 2009, he was only 21. Creedon fell into the alarming national trend of abusing prescription pills.

Michael Baze, 24, was found dead in his car on May 10 near the Churchill Downs stables in Louisville Kentucky. The toxicology report given by Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Jim Wesley on Friday, said that Baze died from multiple substance intoxication.

On August 21 of last year police found Nicholas Tyrrell, 51, dead in his apartment. A concerned neighbor, Ronald Potter, called the police after he had not seen Tyrrell for four days. An inquest heard last week said that Tyrrell had fatal levels of morphine in his system, which pointed to the misuse of heroin.