Controlled Substances in the Polydrug Epidemic: Response to Diller

To the Editor: The current response to the crisis of opioid overdose deaths and addiction has focused attention not just in medicine, but broadly in the nation, on the primary role of prescribed opioids. Largely unrecognized is the role of other prescribed controlled substances in nonmedical drug use, addiction, and overdose deaths, particularly stimulants and benzodiazepines. Compton et al. (1) and Diller (2) usefully focus on underscoring the role of stimulants. The intertwining of legal and illegal drugs is seen in overdose data from the Florida Drug-Related Outcomes Surveillance and Tracking System (FROST) that show the polydrug nature of overdose deaths (3). Dr. Diller’s suggestion for physicians to refrain from prescribing immediate-release formulations of prescription stimulants to adults is an excellent example of rethinking the important role of medical practice in the growing drug crisis (4).