The Small Rural Towns Where Millions Of Painkillers Flooded In Just As Economy Was Bottoming Out
After the release of new data about just where the billions of pain pills went to during the start of the opioid crisis, media outlets take a look at the places that were hardest hit. “There’s not a lot to do,” said Dennis Boggs, 45, a chef at Burger King in a small Virginia town. That’s his explanation for the drug use. “It gives them something to do around here.” Meanwhile, rare criminal charges are brought against an Ohio opioid distributor.
The Washington Post:
Prescription Opioids Flooded Norton, Va. Here's What's Happened To The Small City.
Pills by the tens of thousands, then by the hundreds of thousands and ultimately by the millions found their way to this remote city tucked amid rugged, lush mountains in southwestern Virginia’s coal country. They were opioids, manufactured in bulk, prescribed by doctors promiscuously, prosecutors say. They were sold liberally to pharmacies. Over the course of seven years, from 2006 through 2012, the big Walmart on the four-lane road at the edge of this city received more than 3.5 million opioids. The CVS at the end of the main street through town received more than 1.3 million. (Achenbach, 7/18)
The Associated Press:
Buried In Opioids, Sickened Community Eyes Drugmakers' Role
The numbers are staggering: An average yearly total of 107 opioid pills per resident were distributed over a seven-year period in this rural Appalachian county. The newly released federal data is shocking even to people who live here in Jackson County, where nearly everyone seems to have known someone who died from drug-related causes. Five children in one elementary school class were said to have lost a parent to an overdose death this past academic year. (7/18)
The Post and Courier:
Charleston County Had Highest Rate Of Opioids Dispensed In The Nation, New DEA Data Shows
Charleston County has distributed the highest concentration of opioid pain pills of any county in the nation, a Washington Post analysis of federal drug enforcement data over a span of recent years shows. A federal judge’s ruling Monday freed secret Drug Enforcement Administration data showing the path of opioid pills from manufacturers to community pharmacies and finally to the public. It offers a glimpse into the severity of the epidemic in Charleston County. (Wildeman, 7/17)
WBUR:
Millions Of Opioid Pain Pills Flowed Into Mass. Pharmacies, Data Show
A specialty Massachusetts pharmacy that delivers medication to patients' doorsteps received more than 34 million opioid pain pills in recent years, federal data show. Injured Workers Pharmacy (IWP), of Andover, is a home delivery pharmacy, set up to work with attorneys on worker’s compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits across the country. It was established in 2001. (Willmsen, 7/18)
PBS NewsHour:
The Opioid Industry Fought Hard To Keep This Database Hidden. Here’s What It Shows
Over the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died during a national opioid addiction crisis. As the drug manufacturers face a possible legal reckoning from multiple lawsuits, a newly uncovered database sheds more light on the scope of the disaster. (Brangham, 7/18)
The Washington Post:
Opioid Distributor Miami-Luken, Former Executives Indicted By Federal Prosecutors In Cincinnati
Federal prosecutors in Cincinnati filed criminal charges Thursday against an opioid distributor and two of its former executives, accusing them of conspiring with doctors and pharmacies to pour millions of addictive pain pills into Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. The indictment of Miami-Luken, its former president and its former compliance officer was the second time in three months that federal prosecutors have used criminal laws against a drug distributor in their efforts to stem the prescription opioid epidemic. (Bernstein, 7/18)
CNN:
Feds Indict And Arrest Former Top Officials At Company That Distributed Millions Of Opioids
The indictment says the distribution of oxycodone and hydrocodone was "outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose," Benjamin C. Glassman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said in the indictment. Miami-Luken, a drug distributor based in Springboro, Ohio, allegedly failed to report suspicious orders and exercise the care needed to prevent the drugs from being diverted from proper use. (Almasy and Riess, 7/19)
NPR:
Overdoses Decline In Provisional Data But Some States See Steep Increases
Good news came out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday: Preliminary data shows reported drug overdoses declined 4.2% in 2018, after rising precipitously for decades. "It looks like this is the first turnaround since the opioid crisis began," says Bertha Madras who served on President Trump's opioid commission, and is a professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School. She says it won't be entirely clear until the CDC finalizes the numbers but, "I think the tide could be turning." (Simmons-Duffin, 7/18)
And in other news on the crisis —
The Associated Press:
Oklahoma County Seeking Lawsuit Against Opioid Manufacturers
Oklahoma County has joined over 50 other cities and counties in the state to prosecute drug companies for damages caused by the opioid epidemic. All three county commissioners voted Wednesday to approve a contract with the Fulmer Sill law firm to sue opioid manufacturers, The Oklahoman reported. The decision comes at the end of the state's trial against consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson, which alleges the New Jersey-based company and its subsidiaries created a public nuisance by aggressively promoting the highly addictive drugs. (7/18)
PBS NewsHour:
How Racial Inequity Is Playing Out In The Opioid Crisis
The opioid epidemic in the United States has largely centered on white Americans, who account for roughly 80 percent of opioid overdose victims. But the national attention on white victims has pushed minorities to the sidelines, even as the number of opioid-related deaths among non-whites is on the rise. Non-whites make up 20 percent of deaths involving prescription and non-prescription opioids in the U.S. According to recent government figures, the number is growing. (Addison, 7/18)
Los Angeles Times:
LAPD To Equip More Officers With Medication To Reduce Opioid Deaths
As the nation battles an opioid epidemic, the Los Angeles Police Department is expanding a program to supply officers with thousands of doses of a nasal spray to treat overdose victims. Last year, the LAPD launched a pilot program to train and equip officers to administer naloxone, which blocks the effects of an opioid overdose. More than 6,100 officers now carry the drug sold under the brand name Narcan. Other officers are expected to receive training. (Puente, 7/18)
