Quick Answer. The liver is an organ of the digestive system. The role of the digestive system is to transform food into necessary energy and to rid the body of solid waste. The liver functions within this system by producing bile and by filtering the blood from the digestive system.
The Times analysis of 2009 death statistics, the most recent available, showed: 1  For the first time ever in the US, more people were killed by drugs than motor vehicle accidents. 2  37,485 people died from drugs, a rate fueled by overdoses on prescription pain and anxiety medications, versus 36,284 from traffic accidents.
Drugs have been part of our culture since the middle of the last century. Popularized in the 1960s by music and mass media, they invade all aspects of society. An estimated 208 million people internationally consume illegal drugs. In the United States, results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 19.9 million Americans (or 8% of the population aged 12 or older) used illegal drugs in the month prior to the survey.