Opinion: The other overdose crisis: over-the-counter pain medications
Misuse of over-the-counter pain medications sends nearly 200,000 Americans to the hospital each year. Reading the drug's label can help prevent overdoses.
Overdoses from opioids have captured the national spotlight. And rightly so — they kill nearly 30,000 Americans a year and cause more than 1 million hospitalizations. Another overdose issue is playing outside their shadow: the misuse of over-the-counter pain medicines like acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, and others.
These widely used “safe” medications can cause each year.
