According to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 980,000 people in the U.S. are addicted to some type of opiates: a sharp uptick in recent years. The number of emergency room visits linked to non-medical use of prescription pain relievers has more than doubled in recent years. The prescription painkillers being abused include oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone. And in six states—Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Utah and Vermont—accidental drug deaths due to use of anxiety medications increased 64 percent between 2004 and 2007.

Two big drug-related stories have made headlines this week. The first was the killing last Saturday of two American government employees in Ciudad Juarez. The violence is believed to be related to an ongoing turf-war between rival drug cartels in Mexico. The other event could provide a good story line for Ocean's 14. One of the biggest pharmaceutical heists in history took place in Connecticut last weekend when thieves stole $75 million worth of drugs from an Eli Lilly warehouse. But they weren't recreational painkillers, but rather mostly antidepressants.

Jim here (the web editor), writing the newsletter on a day that only an Irishman should.

This morning’s news about the $76 million in prescription drugs that were stolen from an Eli Lily warehouse in Connecticut caught our attention for one main reason: Why were the thieves going after anti-depressants? The black market for painkillers might be a more obvious target, given the drugs' recreational use, but who knew illicit sales of Prozac and Zyprexa could drive this kind of heist? We’ll find out more about this on tomorrow’s show.

UPDATE: We booked the White House's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske.