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Changing Times: Rock and Roll Without the Drugs

Julieta Santagostino | 22.09.2011 12:54

A nonprofit public benefit corporation does their part to raise awareness that prescriptions drug overdoses kill seven Floridians every day.

Tampa, FL, Septmeber 19, 2011—On October 8th 2011 The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is hosting a free concert in Ybor City, Florida. The concert is intended to raise awareness of the growing problem of prescription drug overdose deaths.
Addiction to prescription painkillers — which kill thousands of Americans a year — has become a largely unrecognized epidemic, experts say. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription drugs cause most of the more than 26,000 fatal overdoses each year.
“No one wants to be lectured about what he or she can or can’t do in their personal lives, so we provide the facts that actually empower our youth, and everyone for that matter, to know the truth about drugs, including prescription drug abuse,” says Julieta Santagostino the Director for the Florida Chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.
In the past, most overdoses were due to illegal narcotics, such as heroin, with most deaths in big cities. Prescription painkillers have surpassed heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of fatal overdoses. And the rate of fatal overdoses is now about as high in rural areas as in cities, where the rate is about 8 deaths per 100,000 people, according to a paper published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.
"The biggest and fastest-growing part of America's drug problem is prescription drug abuse," says Robert DuPont, a former White House drug czar and a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The statistics are unmistakable."
A Governor’s Office of Drug Control Report reveals that prescription-drug overdoses kill more than seven Floridians every single day -- five times greater than deaths from all illicit drugs combined and a 9 percent increase over 2009 numbers.
The concert will feature local bands and musical acts as well as entertainers from around the country. The event will be held on Saturday October 8th from 5pm till 9pm at Ybor Square Courtyard – current home of the Church of Scientology of Tampa – located at 1300 East 8th Avenue Tampa.
Some of the local bands participating include:
John Gold
Lions After Dark
Thrown Alive
WD-HAN
And more…
We will be handing out materials and providing activities that help people learn about the destructive side effects of drugs. All are welcome.
About The Foundation for a Drug-Free World: www.drugfreeworld.org

Julieta Santagostino