SOURCE: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

 

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - February 6, 2008) - The following is a statement by Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman and President of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University: "The tragic death of Heath Ledger as a result of the abuse of controlled prescription drugs is sadly a story too familiar to many American parents. I hope that the death of this young man in the prime of his life with so much potential, serves as a wake-up call to parents and teens that prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. We must abandon the notion that abuse of controlled prescription drugs like OxyContin, Valium and Xanax is somehow safer than abuse of illegal street drugs."