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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

OPIOIDS

Local impact of opioid crisis exposed through DEA data

Posted 7/28/19

REGIONAL – Pharmacies in St. Louis County distributed an average of 275 pills of two of the most common types of opioid medications to every man, woman, and child in the county during a seven-year …

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OPIOIDS

Local impact of opioid crisis exposed through DEA data

Posted

REGIONAL – Pharmacies in St. Louis County distributed an average of 275 pills of two of the most common types of opioid medications to every man, woman, and child in the county during a seven-year span, from 2006-2012.

The Washington Post mined a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) database of opioid transactions nationwide between those years in order to uncover how so many of these addictive drugs are finding their way into consumers’ hands. The database revealed in excess of 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills distributed nationwide and more than 100,000 opioid-related deaths during those. Health experts contend the problem has not diminished in the seven years since this data was tabulated. In fact, according to the National Institute on Health, 17,029 Americans died of prescription opioid overdoses in 2017 alone. That’s well above the approximately 14,000 Americans who died from the same cause in 2012.

In a July 21 report, The Washington Post said it is making the data available at the county and state levels in order to help the public understand the impact of years of prescription pill shipments on their communities. The story provides readers with perspective on how much hydrocodone and oxycodone have been released state by state, county by county. Hydrocodone and oxycodone reportedly make up only about a third of the opioids shipped to pharmacies, according to the article. Information on the distribution of other types of opioids was not available.

Statewide, pharmacies in Minnesota supplied 841.69 million prescription pain pills during the seven-year period for which data became available. A total of 54.87 million pills went to people in St. Louis County during that period, or approximately 275 per resident of the county.

The DEA tracks each individual pain pill through manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies. The top five distributors in Minnesota were McKesson Corporation, Walgreen Co., Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen Drug and Wal-Mart. Walgreen Co. distributed the most opioids in St. Louis County at 16.45 million pills.

Three Walgreen store’s in Duluth were among the five highest-ranking pharmacies, while Essentia Health in Duluth and Baron’s Pharmacy in Hibbing were also listed among the bigger distrbutors. The pharmacies distributing the most opioids throughout the state were Omnicare in Brooklyn Center, Pharmerica in Fridley, HCMC P-1 Pharmacy in Minneapolis and two of the Walgreens in Duluth.

Of the five leading manufacturers, Actavis Pharma, Inc. made the majority that reached St. Louis County— a total of 23.21 million pills.

Nationwide, SpecGx LLC manufactured the most in the nation followed by Actavis Pharma, Inc., Par Pharmaceutical, Purdue Pharma LP and Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC. SpecGx manufactured 37.7 percent of the pain killers on the market, equal to 29 billion pills.

The Washington Post and its publisher HD Media, were granted access to the DEA’s database after a year-long legal battle. According to the newspaper, it’s the first time such data has been released. Researchers at the newspaper analyzed almost 380 million consumer transactions, and demonstrated the growth in the use of opioid-based pain killers during the period. Pharmacies distributed 8.4 billion opioids in 2006. By 2012, that number had jumped 51 percent, to 12.6 billion pills.

Comparing per-capita data, The Washington Post, spotted what was described as an “opioid belt” consisting of 90 counties between Webster County, W.Va., through southern Virginia extending to Monroe County, Ky.

To view The Washington Post’s article and explore research into the opioid epidemic, visit https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/dea-pain-pill-database/?utm_term=.87ec8b93801e.

drugs, opioids, DEA, Washington Post