Why Drug Death Counts may be Under-Reported

In the story about Kai X, the young man killed by oxycontin profiled below, there was in interesting passage:

The drug problem in this area is not exaggerated. In fact, it is understated.

Drug deaths often do not make the news as drug deaths. In the newspapers, we read only that a young man or woman has been found dead and that foul play is not suspected.

By the time a toxicology report comes back four months later, the death is old news, especially if it does not involve a prominent person or a separate crime. Unless we know the family, we never make a positive link between the death and drugs.

But ask most young people working around town. They know the real score. Drugs are readily available, their friends are doing them, and they can rattle off the names of those who have died because of it.

If people knew the real death toll of drugs, do you think it would make a difference?  I would hope so.