Prescription drugs are supposed to help people get healthy, but statistics released Monday show many times they were used the wrong way in Florida _  dead wrong.

According to a report by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, prescription drugs were the cause of more than 2,700 deaths last year, an increase of nearly 9 percent from 2009.

Topping the list of drug killers was oxycodone, which was the cause of 1,516 deaths, the report, which was released Monday, said. That was more than alcohol and cocaine combined.

Of the 9,001 drug-related autopsies performed, 5,647 of the dead bodies had at least one prescription drug in their systems.

Those stats were partly why government officials have targeted pharmacies and pain clinics, which were once the hubs for those seeking to unlawfully attain prescription drugs, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials announced at a press conference Monday that officials have seized 252,410 prescription pills and arrested 937 people statewide as part of an initiative to curb pill mills.

Authorities also confiscated 375,000 pills that were voluntarily surrendered by physicians and pharmacies to comply with a new state law that imposed new restrictions for dispensing certain drugs.

In July, more than 40,000 pills were confiscated in Broward County, which is considered the nation's pain pill corridor, state law enforcement officials have said

“Florida law enforcement has launched a focused attack,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey said in a statement. “We have major investigations open in every region of the state and we are systematically taking down pill mills, rounding up street traffickers, and putting overprescribing doctors out of business.”