Statement by Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman and President, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University and Former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, on the Death of Heath Ledger of an Accidental Overdose of Prescription Drugs

Market Wire, February, 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."

Contact: Lauren Duran 212-841-5260 lduran@casacolumbia.org Sulaiman Beg 212-841-5213 sbeg@casacolumbia.org