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 more than 255 million pills to Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island, 277 people died from opioid overdoses in 2017, down slightly from 2016 but still more than in any previous year.

The Post's data said the average annual number of pills distributed per person in Rhode Island from 2006 to 2012 varied considerably by county, from a low of 21.7 pills per person in Bristol County to 28.3 in Newport County, 32.7 in Providence County, 33.6 in Washington County and 48.8 in Kent County.

Bad as it has been in Rhode Island, where the death rate from opioids — 26.9 deaths per 100,000 people — is almost twice the national average, 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.

Source: The Washington Post

Last week, Gov. Gina Raimondo signed into law three bills intended to address the opioid epidemic. One limits new opioid prescriptions, another requires posting signs at pharmacies to warn customers about the dangers of opioids, and the third bars life insurance companies from denying or limiting policies for customers with prescriptions for overdose-reversal medications.

The state also levied a $5 million annual fee on opioid manufacturers to pay for addiction prevention and treatment.

To help address the crisis, the Rhode Island Department of Health has implemented a Drug Overdose Prevention Program aimed educating the public and ensuring all local communities have access to naloxone, the lifesaving overdose-reversal drug.