Report: CT received 675M pain pills during run-up to opioid crisis

Photo | Drug Enforcement Administration Hydrocodone pills.

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By Matt Pilon and Joe Cooper

A recently published database from the Washington Post reveals the sheer volume of pain pills shipped to Connecticut pharmacies in the run-up to what has become a steadily increasing number of drug overdose deaths here.

Between 2006 and 2012, Connecticut pharmacies and medical practitioners received shipments from manufacturers and distributors totaling 675.3 million oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, according to data the Post obtained from the Drug Enforcement Administration through a court order. The paper published the database last week, providing shipment data for every state and county in the country.

Overdose deaths involving opioid prescriptions in Connecticut have steadily increased from 1.6 deaths per 100,000 persons in 2012 to 7.7 deaths in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There were 955 overdose deaths involving opioids in Connecticut in 2017, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

While 675 million pills sounds staggering, it’s relatively modest compared to most other states, when adjusted for population.

Connecticut ranked No. 41 among U.S. states for the number of pain pills per capita shipped during those seven years, with shipments amounting to 27 pills per resident per year (based on 2010 U.S. Census state population data).

West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee had the three highest per capita annual totals.

One reason may be that Connecticut providers have tended to issue fewer opioid prescriptions than other states. In 2017, they issued 48 opioid prescriptions per 100 persons, compared to the U.S. average of 58.7 opioid prescriptions, according to NIH.

State officials said opioid prescriptions fell again in 2018.

The Post’s analysis showed that more than 76 billion pain pills were distributed across the U.S. during the seven-year period analyzed.

Portions of the country with greater numbers of pills shipped also tended to have higher opioid death rates, according to the Post.

The Post wrote that it has not yet been able to obtain 2013 and 2014 data, due to an ongoing court case in Ohio.

Of the total number of pills sent to Connecticut over the seven-year period analyzed, more than 196.1 million, including 50.4 million in Hartford County, were distributed by Ohio-based Cardinal Health. Missouri’s SpecGx LLC, meantime, manufactured 289.4 million pain pills for the state during that time, including 71.6 million in Hartford County, according to the data.

Cheshire-based Value Health Care Services LLC, which operates as Omnicare of Connecticut, received the highest number of pills in the state during the period analyzed. The company was acquired by CVS in 2015.

Photo | CNN Money

A CVS storefront.

While CVS did not control Omnicare during the 2006-2012 period, 10 of the top 15 recipients of shipments in Connecticut during those years were CVS locations, according to the data.

In an email Wednesday, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said only a “very small percentage” of the 4.2 billion retail prescriptions CVS dispensed between 2006 and 2012 were opioid medications.

“We maintain stringent policies, procedures and tools to help ensure that our pharmacists properly exercise their professional responsibility to evaluate controlled substance prescriptions before filling them,” he said. “While we have taken numerous actions to strengthen our existing safeguards to help address the nation’s opioid epidemic, it is important to keep in mind that doctors have the primary responsibility to make sure the opioid prescriptions they write are for a legitimate purpose.”

Three Walgreen’s locations were also among the top 15 for opioid shipments in Connecticut during the seven years.

The state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) had the following comment on Washington Post’s database:

“The information provided in reports like these is always helpful for us as we work with our partners to make sure that the right medication is used in the right circumstances for patients based on the professional judgment of prescribers in our state. We know there is more progress for us to make as we work to combat the opioid crisis in conjunction with state, local, and community partners. The more information we have, the better.”

DCP said it was encouraged that opioid prescriptions in the state have been on a consistent decrease since 2015.

“We are continuing our work to promote safe drug disposal, ensure that those who need it have access to [overdose reversal medication] naloxone, administer the prescription monitoring program, and keep pharmacies and pharmacists in compliance with the law,” the agency said.