[Nathans_Dad]

I think you underestimate the will and inventiveness of those who will choose to abuse prescription drugs. If a patient comes into my office and tells me they take 3 medications, how am I to know if they are lying and actually take 6? Now, if you want to have a discussion on why a physician would give an otherwise healthy young man prescription pain meds that's another issue. As noted above, he was on multiple redundant meds which is a pretty good indicator that he got those meds from multiple different doctors who likely didn't know that he was stashing these away.

I'm not defending the docs who prescribed prescription pain killers and anxiolytics to a 30 year old, but to lay the blame at the feet of the medical profession and treat Ledger as some sort of innocent victim just isn't realistic.

If the reports of prescriptions from outside the US are true, that's an entirely different ball of wax. The medical market works VERY differently in other countries. Heck, in Mexico you can pretty much walk up to any pharmacy and just buy what you want, often without ANY prescription. Deniro talks you know...