How Pharmaceuticals Came To Be The 4th Leading Cause Of Death In America

[D23MIURG23]

160. As far as I can tell, they aren't.

Here is a paper from the CDC showing statistics about death in the US in 2011, by age group, and here is how they break down:

0-24 years

Accidents, 38%; Homicide, 13%; Suicide, 13%; Cancer, 7%; Heart Disease, 3%; All other causes, 26%

25 - 44 years

Accidents, 26%; Cancer, 13%; Heart Disease, 12%; Suicide, 11%; Homicide, 6%; All other causes, 32%

45 - 64 years

Cancer, 32%; Heart Disease, 21%; Accidents, 7%; Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease, 4%; Chronic Liver Disease And Cirrhosis 4%, All others 32%

65+

Heart Disease, 26%; Cancer, 22%; Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease, 7%; Stroke, 6%; Alzheimer's, 5%; All Others, 34%

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db115.htm

Here is the top 10 causes of death world wide from WHO : http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/

Curiously "death by pharmaceuticals being used as directed" is not on that list either.

You also don't find that entry in any of the COD stats that are broken down by income:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/index1.html

And finally the article you linked doesn't source any research to support that claim, the author merely asserts it without any backup. If you have a source for that claim or some actual statistics feel free to share.