76 Billion Pills Helped Fuel Opioid Epidemic: Report

The pharmaceutical industry shipped 76 billion opioid pills nationwide during the first surge of the opioid epidemic from 2006 to 2012, including nearly 281 million pills to New Hampshire pharmacies and other distributors, according to a new analysis by The Washington Post.

The Post analyzed data released earlier this week by the Drug Enforcement Administration as part of a major federal civil lawsuit against 10 pharmaceutical companies that manufactured the vast majority of the drugs. The lawsuit, which combines cases filed by more than 2,000 counties, cities and towns into one case being heard in Cleveland, is larger even than the massive case against the tobacco companies litigated nearly two decades ago.

Nationwide, some 100,000 people died from opioid overdoses during the period covered by The Post analysis.

In New Hampshire, 424 people died from opioid overdoses in 2017, down slightly from 2016 but still more than in any previous year, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The latest figures put the number of deaths in 2018 at 420.

The Post's data said the average annual number of pills distributed per person in New Hampshire varied considerably by county during the 2006-2012 period, from a low of 24 per person in Hillsborough County to 30 in Rockingham County, 36 in Merrimack County and a high of 38 per person in Grafton County.

Bad as it has been in New Hampshire — where the death rate from opioids is 34 per 100,000 population, well over twice the national average and the second-highest rate in the country — the opioid epidemic has been far worse in other parts of the country, notably the Appalachian areas of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In West Virginia, for example, the opioid death rate is 49.6 per 100,000, about three times the national average, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. As The Post analysis showed, average annual opioid pill distribution was staggeringly high in some counties in those states, including more than 200 per person in Mingo County, WV.

Heroin and opioid addiction have been described as a perfect storm in the Granite State, due to the tightening of regulations and the cheap and easy availability of the illegal substances.

Overdose deaths began increasing – like a hockey stick – in 2014, at the same time prescription rates were dropping. Officials were initially slow to respond to the crisis. But during the past couple of years, major investments at the federal and state level have been made to increase transitional homes and rehabilitation beds at facilities for substance abusers as well as spending tens of millions of dollars for other treatment programs.

State law enforcement officials have also increased the number of drop-off locations via the Zero Left Campaign. Gov. Chris Sununu established the New Hampshire Opioid Prescribing Advisory Council earlier this year while working with others last year to launch the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative New Hampshire. U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, unveiled a $63 billion, 10-year program to combat substance abuse around the United States last week.

Source: The Washington Post