Hope in the drug crisis: New data shows prescription opioid use fell at a historic rate last year
Use of prescription opioids such as OxyContin or Vicodin fell at a record rate last year as the U.S. government cracks down on pharmacists and drugmakers that dispense the sometimes lethal painkillers, according to a report published Thursday.
Prescription opioid use in the U.S. was down 17% in 2018, marking the largest annual decline ever recorded, research firm IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science said. In 1992, prescription opioid use was at roughly 22 pain pills per U.S. adult per year and rose to a peak level of 72 pills per U.S. adult in 2011, IQVIA said. Since 2011, use has declined by 43% to 34 pills per adult.
The new data, unveiled in IQVIA’s 2019 report on health-care trends, provides some hope for combating the nationwide opioid epidemic, which kills roughly 130 Americans every day. Just last month, a new study provided troubling news that the opioid crisis has led to a sharp increase in the death rate for overdoses by teens and young adults.
The Justice Department and U.S. lawmakers have been working to combat the epidemic, such as limiting painkiller prescriptions and punishing those seen as responsible for the epidemic.
On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., unveiled a $100 billion proposal that would fund prevention services and provide resources to programs for those battling addiction and in recovery.
Last month, a former CEO of Rochester Drug Cooperative, one of the nation’s largest drug distributors, was indicted on what prosecutors say are the first criminal charges against an executive of a drug company to stem from the opioid epidemic. In addition, the federal government reached a $20 million settlement with the company over its alleged role in the crisis.
Separately, federal prosecutors charged 60 doctors, pharmacists and other licensed medical professionals across five states in connection with illegally prescribing more than 32 million pain pills.
The indictments came as some 1,600 cases against OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers are being consolidated and transferred before a judge in the Northern District of Ohio, and New York and other states begin their own massive legal fights.
The report Thursday showed prescriptions for lower-dose opioids remained stable, possibly because such painkillers are still perceived by physicians and patients as relatively safe, IQVIA said.
The DEA seems to like to make (fabricate) cases based on LARGE NUMBERS.. that in reality has nothing to do with the REAL FACTS..
According to a web search there are 248 million adults in the USA.
From the article we are dispensing 34 doses/adult/yr or 8.4 billion doses (248,000,000 X 34)
It is estimated that there are 25 -35 million pts that could be labeled as having/dealing with INTRACTABLE CHRONIC PAIN.. meaning that they need opiate medication 24/7.
At a minimum each of those intractable chronic pain pts would require 2 long acting doses/day – 730 doses/yr
25 million pts X 730 doses/yr = 18.25 billion. So according to those numbers we are dispensing only 46% of what is minimally needed for the 25 million intractable chronic pain pts.
That only means that we have a short fall of dosing the pts dealing with intractable chronic pain pts.. there are no doses left to treat the other 75 + million chronic pain pts and none left to treat those with acute pain from accidents , surgery or other situation where acute pain would/should be treated with opiates.
If we got back to the number of opiate doses that were being dispensed back in 2011 – 72 doses/yr/adult… we would still only have 17.9 billion doses – and still not having enough to provide minimal pain management therapy for those 25 million intractable chronic pain pts.
Does anyone really NOT UNDERSTAND why suicides by chronic pain pts are increasing dramatically ?
Filed under: General Problems
[…] Hope in the drug crisis: New data shows prescription opioid use fell at a historic rate last year […]
Don’t these people ever get tired of lying. This is all a scam, the gov. Doesn’t give a crap about people dying from Anything. Less people the less money they have to lay out. The CIA is making their own
Opioids laced with fentanyl, millions of dollars worth were found at
The Langley, Va. bldg fire. They want to get rid of addicts & Chronic
Pain Patients. The gov wants Healthy people only, wake up, they don’t
Care about us or what we are going through.
Their lies created this mess. The Doctors failed their patients by ignoring their Hippocratic Oath of “Do No Harm”, so instead of just
Sending out letters to all Doctors telling them it was okay to write
Prescriptions for Chronic Pain Patients, once again, the CDC, DEA, HHS, and everyone connected with this screw up FAILED to do their
Jobs.
Yeah, Remember when we had 325 million US population not too long ago?
I wonder what happened to those people?
Oh maybe that number was fake too. That’s a whole lot of people who disappeared.
Your right Steve, they Love numbers and they have poor math.
that study/report was based on ADULTS in the USA… which I got the number from a web search… they used ADULTS only because including EVERYONE would make the numbers lower and that would not help them prove their fabricated facts
But aren’t we still short of Trump’s goal of a 30% reduction?
Well then look out, the ” painful solution” must continue.
The powers that be may push forward to achieve the arbitrary 30% opioid prescriptions reduction target – even though the population may not be able to absorb such a cut. It doesn’t matter to them. I believe they (Gov’t. Payroll,) have access to medication that us common folk do not.
I keep going back to the thought that a wall would work in both directions.
I don’t deserve to have to be considering all of this. I’m working on projects to provide for my kids. It’s just that nothing is going to move forward untill I’ve secured this medical issue. It shouldn’t be such an ordeal. Stop poking the bear!
U know after watching that hhhs meeting..Them at the end of Mr Lawherns comments attempting to stop him,,because they did not want to hear the truth,,,that their basically killing us and the dea needs to stop arresting innocent doctors,,The falsification of these numbers mentioned in Steve article,,again,,I have again concluded,,they don’t want the truth,,they want agenda,,no matter how many lies they have tell you complete their agenda…Their agenda is to get rid of the chronic medically ill,ie,pre-existing,,so they don’t have pay for us and maintain their 17 million $$$ salaries,,,or cushy jobs on our dime…They always seem to forget,,thee only ones getting paid to produce this fake opiate epidemic is them,,,us Cppp,,,have no financial gains,,,our motive is pure survival,,maryw
You know when Red spoke previously in front of them with that short but famous speech, I will never forget that a fellow, a doctor in a uniform, spoke and it was PURE false narrative, and at the end Vanilla Singh practically shouted “Yes!”, and that is how she revealed her and the HHS’s true angle.
Oh
Yes. I get it.
6 of my patients are dead after losing access to my care and their meds
If distributors and opioid manufacturers merely settle, that means we will never find out what they did wrong if they did wrong and the idea they did do wrong will continue to fuel reasons to deny severe pain patients.
If many died how can they merely “settle” and suffer no conviction and sentencing and punishment?
I want these to fight their case because they say they are innocent and so PROVE the prosecution is guilty, as we already know to be the case.
YES!! I totally agree.
(trying not to scream with rage from this moronic story)
Thank you for pointing out the asinine math in this travesty of a “news” story, Steve. My other question –well, one of them– is, don’t these morons realize that (A) the decrease was forced, & that (B) such a drastic cut back of pain meds means that people are getting surgery & dying of cancer without any relief? That THEY may have an accident or injury or get cancer & be without any relief?
Oh never mind…they’re morons who usually don’t read anything past the headlines & are incapable of grasping anything beyond simplistic concepts; “all drugs are evil,” “there’s one simple thing that will decrease belly fat!” and they can eat “just this one food!” and lose weight without diet or exercise. People are mostly dumber than boxes of rocks.