14,800

Number of overdose deaths involving opioid painkillers like OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone in 2008. That's more than triple the 4,000 deaths in 1999, reports the CDC, calling the problem a "public health epidemic." Rates of overdose death varied widely by state in 2008, with the highest rate in New Mexico (27 per 100,000 people) and the lowest in Nebraska (5.5 per 100,000). States that had higher rates of painkiller abuse (8.1% in Oklahoma) and yearly prescription painkiller sales (27.8 lbs. per 10,000 people in Florida) tended to have more drug overdose deaths than states where rates of opioid misuse (3.6% in Nebraska) and sales (8.2 lbs. per 10,000 people in Illinois) were lower. In 2010, about 1 in 20 Americans aged 12 or older reported misusing prescription painkillers. [via CDC]