Analysis: High prevalence of painkiller sales turning America into painkiller nation

CBS

(AP) NEW YORK - Sales of the two most popular prescription painkillers in the United States have exploded in new parts of the country, an Associated Press analysis shows, worrying experts who say the push to relieve patients' suffering is spawning an addiction epidemic.

Drug Enforcement Administration figures show dramatic rises between 2000 and 2010 in the distribution of oxycodone, the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan. Some places saw sales increase sixteenfold.

Meanwhile, the distribution of hydrocodone, the key ingredient in Vicodin, Norco and Lortab, is rising in Appalachia, the original epicenter of the U.S. painkiller epidemic, as well as in the Midwest.

The increases have coincided with a wave of overdose deaths, pharmacy robberies and other problems in New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Florida and other states. Opioid pain relievers, the category that includes oxycodone and hydrocodone, caused 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008 alone, and the death toll is rising, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Across the U.S., pharmacies received and ultimately dispensed the equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone and 42 tons of pure hydrocodone in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. That's enough to give 40 5-mg Percocets and 24 5-mg Vicodins to every person in the United States. The DEA data records shipments from distributors to pharmacies, hospitals, practitioners and teaching institutions. The drugs are eventually dispensed and sold to patients, but the DEA does not keep track of how much individual patients receive.

The increase is partly due to the aging U.S. population with pain issues and a greater willingness by doctors to treat pain, said Gregory Bunt, medical director at New York's Daytop Village chain of drug treatment clinics.

Sales are also being driven by addiction, as users become physically dependent on painkillers and begin "doctor shopping" to keep the prescriptions coming, he said.

"Prescription medications can provide enormous health and quality-of-life benefits to patients," Gil Kerlikowske, the U.S. drug czar, told Congress in March. "However, we all now recognize that these drugs can be just as dangerous and deadly as illicit substances when misused or abused."

Opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone can release intense feelings of well-being. Some abusers swallow the pills; others crush them, then smoke, snort or inject the powder.

Unlike most street drugs, the problem has its roots in two disparate parts of the country -- Appalachia and affluent suburbs, said Pete Jackson, president of Advocates for the Reform of Prescription Opioids.

"Now it's spreading from those two poles," Jackson said.

A few areas that include military bases or Veterans Affairs hospitals have seen large increases in painkiller use because of soldier patients injured in the Middle East, law enforcement officials say.

Experts worry painkiller sales are spreading quickly in areas where there are few clinics to treat people who get hooked, Bunt said.

In Utica, New York, Patricia Reynolds has struggled to find treatment after becoming dependent on hydrocodone pills originally prescribed for a broken tailbone.

The nearest clinics offering Suboxone, an anti-addiction drug, are an hour's drive away in Cooperstown or Syracuse. And those programs are full and are not accepting new patients, she said.

"You can't have one clinic like that in the whole area," Reynolds said. "It's a really sad epidemic. I want people to start talking about it instead of pretending it's not a problem and hiding."

[44invent]

I've been through narcotic pain treatment (6 yrs) and addiction (to painkiller) treatment using suboxone (2yrs) and I want EVERYONE to know that Suboxone Withdrawals are 10 times WORSE than painkiller withdrawals so...don't be tricked into giving up one for other. Suboxone withdrawals last 2 - 8 weeks and are intense, horrible. While painkiller withdrawals are from 5 - 20 Days! Ween down then QUIT! It'll be hard for most people whom have no friend/family support buts the only best #1 way.

SUBOXONE should be BANNED!

[ulfjonasson]

Darvon and Darvocet are the worst drugs ever - over time

There is really an epidemic with the painkillers. And do not forget that the real problem is Propoxyphene (Darvon and Darvocet) and the trials against this drug will start quite soon. This drug has been a great problem since 1957.

We have studied the substance since 1993 and we can tell you that Propoxypohene is the worst painkilling substance ever. During the years 1995 - 2005 the yearly consumption of Propoxypohene was 96 883 kg per year. (We have the consumption figures from INBCB - International Narcotic Control Board in Vienna).

No single drug has poisoned so many people to death as Propoxyphene has, and the coming - federal - trials in Kentucky will show that. Today there are 350 cases and around 700 people that are suing some pharmaceutical companies,mostly Eli Lilly and Xanodyne.

If you want to read more about Propoxyphene please read our CV http://******/HEMgo4 and ( Restrictions on the prescribing of Dextropropoxyphene (DXP) effects on sales and cases of fatal poisoning) http://******/ncHuoh

[r3v01t3d]

And the pharmaceutical companies don't realize that they are creating this many pills? They sell this crap because they can't sell pot, coke, opium, etc....

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

Opioid pain relievers, the category that includes oxycodone and hydrocodone, caused 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008 alone, and the death toll is rising..
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Meanwhile, overdose deaths from marijuana - 0.....

[John34Chase]

There is an easier way to confront opiate addiction but you won't find them in this so-called "study". The Swiss solved their opiate abuse problem back in 1994 in Zurich by offering heroin assisted treatment(HAT), accompanied by a huge increase in methadone availability. In 2008 the Swiss people voted by 2 to 1 to include HAT in their health delivery system. It is so successful that even the UNODC has quit complaining about the Swiss.

[solorister]

There are other medicine for chronic pain , like lyrica and others, not those nacotic medications ,that do not realy help for nerve pains ,so patient are allergic to those and over caunter do not help , some doctor lie that it is not nacotic when prescribing those , like Tramadol , a bad medicin .Lyrica is so high in price , because no one realy prescribe those medicin , why I wonder .Yes drug addict are bad for patient that truly needs pain management , and doctor should try to do surgery sooner that later and learn to do it right and not say I do not know what causes the pain , MRIs show the injury part , why not be up front with the patient and not hide what doctor did wrong in diagnosing , mine was way back in 1997 and I have suffered so much .
Not sure how pharmasies going to secure there drugs as drug dealers are robbing phamacies , secury on sight , with gun ?

[djseavy]

As a chronic pain patient, I am grateful that fentanyl patches and morphine are available through prescription. I'm far from alone on this. The problem we have is the addiction of people who do not need painkillers for medical reasons. Their behavior puts those of us who truly need our pain kept tolerable in a very bad light. Between the DEA and physicians who are scared to prescribe narcotics for fear of government goons raiding their practice, those of us who suffer from serious and persistent pain could end up with a very lousy quality of life. I empathize with addicts, but I don't sympathize with them. They chose to get hooked, and they knew at the time that addiction was likely.

[HighestJonnie]

What this is really about is the DEA hyping for a bigger budget, over zealous law makers trying to make a name for themselves, itching to pass new laws which will end up making more american citizens criminals, and money grubbing doctors who want even tighter controls so people will have to pay for more office visits to get less of what they need. What this country needs is LESS DEA and LESS legislation and rules concerning pain medication. This has been in the news lately and now it's come around again, that means some government entity is leaking it to brace us for a new round of rules.
So Fight it people.

[UpandUp123]

Very true. Less DEA and less legislation is the answer. Addiction is not necessarily the problem. Illegality of addiction is.

[WAISMANNMETHOD]

Painkiller (opiate) dependency causes several chemical imbalances that need to be reversed in order to properly treat the condition. We know from years of experience that locking patients in rehab is not a successful form of rehabilitation, and often times the fear of suffering, enduring intense cravings, and relapsing actually prevents patients from seeking treatment. Until we start widely offering humane and truly successful treatments for opiate detoxification, we will continue to see painkiller abuse grow at epidemic proportions.

[Dgunner]

When employers in the manufacturing stop tearing down thier empoyess the need for these types drugs will drop. The DEA doesn't mention the cause of the increase except to blame the doctors.The people in arkansas who work at pultry plants can't get a job if positive for marijuana but they prefer the applicants who have a steady supply of pain killers. I know to be fact I have a relative that works for the largest poultry producer in that state and he works in human resources.