Doctors are prescribing painkillers to nearly every American, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). A recent study found that health care providers in 2012 wrote enough prescriptions for every American adult to have a bottle of highly-addictive pills.
The CDC says pain-causing conditions don’t vary much state to state, but the prescription rates throughout the states tell a different story. Doctors in some states prescribe three times as many opioid or narcotic pain relievers, including OxyContin, Opana (oxymorphone), methadone, and Vicodin, which is a combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen, per person than in others. And America has twice as many prescriptions per person compared to Canada.
According to statistics, 10 southern states account for the highest rates of prescription painkillers per person. Tennessee, Alabama, and West Virginia are leaders in the pack with nearly 96-143 prescriptions written per person. The Northeast had the most long-acting prescriptions and higher doses. New York tallied 52-71 prescriptions per 100 people, while Maine and Rhode Island were two of the highest states.
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Many states reported that for-profit pain clinics encourage doctors to prescribe higher quantities of pain meds. Some of these pills end up back on the street, sold to users to get a cheap but similar high to illegal drugs, including heroin. Most states are working on strengthening the law on obtaining prescriptions from these so called “pill mills,” if not banning them completely like Florida. This has caused a reduction in deaths caused by painkiller overdoses. New York and Tennessee noted a reduction in patients seeking treatment from multiple doctors or doctor shopping to obtain the same painkiller prescription.
Forty-six people per day die from prescription painkiller overdoses in the United States records show. The CDC is pushing for health care providers to prescribe only what’s needed for a patient while ensuring they receive safe, effective pain treatment. In addition the CDC is calling for a more uniform drug monitoring system that will combat over prescribing and doctor shopping.