Enough Painkillers Sold In One Town To Medicate Every Man, Woman, Child For 136 Days
A first-time release of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescribing data shows vast regional disparities. Stateline reports on the numbers and the town -- Martinsville, Va. -- that topped the list. In other news on the national opioid epidemic, experts wait on the impact of White House action.
Stateline:
New Numbers Reveal Huge Disparities In Opioid Prescribing
Using 2015 data from retail pharmacy receipts, the CDC for the first time reported the volume and potency of pain tablets sold in the nation’s drugstores and calculated per capita rates of morphine equivalent doses sold at the county level. Martinsville drugstores came out on top, selling enough Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin and other opioid painkillers to medicate every man, woman and child in the city for 136 days, nearly seven times the national average. (Vestal, 8/14)
CQ Roll Call:
Trump's Plan For Opioid Emergency Declaration Murky
President Donald Trump's order to his administration last week to use extraordinary authorities to respond to opioid abuse and addiction has left experts puzzling over how an emergency declaration could be applied to a simmering problem, unlike more typical disaster scenarios. If he declares an emergency, Trump would be following the recommendation of a presidential commission on opioid abuse led by Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J. (Siddons, 8/14)