WV pharmacies dispensed 31M fewer painkillers and other powerful drugs last year

[dlwickham]

Source: Charleston Gazette Mail

The number of potentially addictive prescription drugs dispensed by West Virginia pharmacies dropped by 31 million in 2017, the sharpest decline in a single year since the state started tracking such powerful medications.

Controlled substances – which include prescription painkillers, anti-anxiety medications and amphetamines – declined by 12 percent between 2016 and last year, according to the state Board of Pharmacy’s annual report.

Hydrocodone -- sold under brand names like Vicodin and Lortab -- remained the most-prescribed pain medication, but the number of pills dispensed dropped by 8.4 million tablets. Oxycodone numbers decreased by 9.3 million.

The state Board of Pharmacy’s Controlled Substances Monitoring Database has been tracking the highly regulated drugs since 2011.

Read more: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/health/wv-pharmacies-dispensed-m-fewer-painkillers-and-other-powerful-drugs/article_c8756a55-8cac-5618-9f86-2e0e990d0e72.html

[mr_lebowski]

1. And how many beds were added to treatment facilities and how many new Suboxone patient slots ...

were created at doctors offices, and how many new methadone clinics were built or expanded?

Cause if those numbers did not simultaneously increase, guess what? Then the streets are likely being flooded with Meth & Heroin to take up the slack.

Oh, and the prisons are likely getting seriously overcrowded and overwhelmed.

And god help the people currently going cold turkey off of Valium or Xanax ... you think kicking Oxy is rough (and it damn sure is) ... Xannies and Valium are even worse, and detox much more likely to be deadly.

[dewsgirl]

5. Add klonopin to that list. Benzodiazapene withdrawal is the worst and most deadly of all withdrawals

Any doctor that knowingly makes a patient go cold turkey off of benzodiazapenes after long term use, knowing the seizure/suicide risk should not only have their license revoked, they should be thrown in jail.

[mr_lebowski]

8. Oh, yeah, forgot the Klonnies ... that whole class ... even the 'pseudos' like Ambien are abused

And even those are still brutal to get off of ...

100% agree.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. They gotta fill up all those private prisons they built in the '90s

when they were locking up crack addicts.

[Ligyron]

2. Yeah, 'cause the streets are flooded with carfentanil now.

Who needs that weak ass prescription stuff anymore.

and coming soon: Lofentanil!

[mr_lebowski]

9. It's stronger mg-per-mg but its not a better high ... fentanyl is the dirt-weed of opioids really

Very short-lived, harsher/more sudden come-down, more 'itchy' than 'high' ... though it does take the WD's away ... briefly.

Other than it being more 'shootable' than just about any Rx opioid pill (due to their fillers, APAP, time-release mechs, etc), it has no advantage over Oxycontin, Opana, or Dilaudid. It's very 'concentrated', but that doesn't make it 'good'.

It's kinda like comparing Acid to Mushrooms. Yeah, it's like 200 micrograms of acid = about 2 grams of mushrooms ... but that doesn't mean acid is 10,000 times more 'fun' or whatever that ratio is.

The cream of the crop are the instant release 30mg formulation of Oxycodone ('blues' or 'roxies'), and instant release dilaudid aka hydromorphone, esp. the 8mg formula (highest dose made), because those pills are actually injection-friendly or sniffable. These are preferred by non-shooters over anything, and even by shooters vs. anything but the highest-grade REAL heroin (not the fentanyl laced stuff)

After those, it's the generic opana aka oxymorphone (because it's crushable/sniffable, unlike the name-brand formulation ... but in no way shootable), then it's the name-brand opana, which is best used by uhh ... 'plugging'.

Don't ask how I know all this ... if I told ya, well ... you know

[Ligyron]

13. I was being somewhat sarcastic.

Point is: the government, DEA, Police are never going to stop this.

The Dilaudid aka hydromorphone is about the most desirable. Peeps just drop it in the barrel of the syringe, add water, shake and go. Really best swallowed, done up the nose or injected inter muscular though as intravenous injection will take the top of your head right off if done too fast. The increase in cranial pressure is nothing but a major headache and you're suppose to be killing pain.

If you live west of the Mississippi, opium poppies are very easy to grow and the pods make great smoothies!

Don't ask me how I know this either.

[Rollo]

3. But there's this...

In 2016, 884 people fatally overdosed on drugs in West Virginia. That was the highest drug overdose death rate of any state.

Heroin- and fentanyl-related overdose deaths were most common, but recent data has shown that many of those who overdosed had a prescription for an opioid painkiller within the previous year.

Illegal methamphetamine- and cocaine-related overdose deaths also have increased significantly over the past year. A final count of 2017 fatal overdoses isn’t expected until May.

So while legal opioid prescriptions have decreased, deaths from overdoses of illegal meth and coke have skyrocketed.

Go figure. Evidently restricting supply isn't the answer. Intervention, therapy, education, and reducing the causes of addictive behavior may work better?

I may be an exception, but after a few stints in the ER and hospital from motor vehicle accident related injuries, I quickly grew to dislike the lack of control that opioids create. Ever since when prescribed them (usually Vicodin) I would only take enough to blunt the worst of the pain, and wind up with more than half the bottle unused. And I have a secured drawer full of half bottles (many expired) to show for it. I figure I'm nothing special; if I can do it, anyone can.

Maybe a night in the hospital with an idiotic nurse who insisted on dosing one up with more morphine instead of attending to one's complaint (like adjust the position of a broken limb) would give people a different take on it?

[mr_lebowski]

10. Skyrocketing could be a stretch given we don't know the actual count ...

It's actually rare to die of OD from stimulants like meth & coke.

A '50% increase' might actually mean 'from 4 deaths ... all the way up to 6'.

What 'lack of control' do you mean? I've often thought a big reason by opioids got so popular is that it's a pretty subtle high. Compared to being drunk or stoned or wired out ... it's much easier to 'act normal' on the stuff, and hence successfully go about one's day ... even with a pretty solid opioid buzz going on.

Perhaps you've lived a pretty clean life & don't have much else to compare it to so in your experience it seems like a 'profound' effect ... but in the grand scheme of 'highs' in the world ... it's one of the more subtle drug experiences. Mostly a 'body high', your 'thinking' is not impacted all that much ... esp. once the user develops some tolerance.

At least, this is what I've been told by family members who've gotten involved with the damn things, and my own experiences after some surgeries/injuries.

[Rollo]

11. Oh, I don't know. Opiods tend to make one stop caring... I find that disturbing...

As for 50% increase, my ref didn't say that. It said "significant" increase. And the exact figures won't be released until May.

Heroin is also illegal... and it would not surprise me if the final tally shows those deaths by overdose increased in 2017 as well, counteracting the decrease in prescription OD's.

The point is... prohibition has failed time and again. People intent on getting their fix will find it illegally if they can't get it legally. The key is treatment, education, therapy, and special drugs to wean one off the addictive one. Like I already said.

some people, like me, can successfully resist opioid addiction on their own. However restricting supply and making them illegal only makes it more difficult for the addicted to want to seek the help they need.

[pecosbob]

4. I'll just leave this link here

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/12/17/denver-based-dea-opioid-probe-of-mckesson-was.html

[Aristus]

6. Here in Washington State, we integrate careful opioid prescribing with

suboxone and methadone clinics, pain management, drug treatment, and social services.

When we say we want to decrease deaths from opioid overdoses, and addiction to pain medications, we mean it.

[GusBob]

12. How to stop drug use without a wall