76 billion. That’s the number of oxycodone + hydrocodone pain pills the U.S.’s largest drug companies distributed throughout the country from 2006-2012. The number comes from new data just released by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) last week that deep-dives into America’s opioid epidemic, which caused ~100,000 deaths during that six-year span. That’s an estimated ~130 deaths every day.

While more newly-released info indicates opioid-related deaths may have decreased in 2018 for the first time since 1990, seeing these numbers makes it clear why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in 2017.

And the misuse of opioids – including heroin, prescription drugs + synthetic opioids such as fentanyl (similar to morphine, but 50-100 times more potent) – does not exclude S.C. or Greenville County.

Also from the newly-published DEA’s database via the Washington Post: 171,304,657 prescription pain pills were supplied to Greenville County from 2016-2012 (that’s enough for 56 pills per person per year). In 2017 alone, Greenville County saw 41 million+ opioid and benzodiazepine pills dispensed and 73 opioid overdose deaths.

By the numbers

National statistics gathered in 2017 paint an alarming picture:

11.4 million. How many people misused prescription opioids.
2.1 million. How many people had an opioid use disorder.
2 million. How many people misused prescription opioids for the first time.
$78.5 billion. The economic burden of prescription opioid use in the U.S., according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

National efforts

The opioid crisis has not gone unrecognized by the government. In October of 2018, Congress passed HR6, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. This bill is aimed at ending the opioid crisis by improving state prescription drug monitoring programs, promoting federal research into new pain management therapies, making is easier for consumers to dispose of unused medications + more.

Local efforts

In December 2017, Gov. McMaster created South Carolina Opioid Emergency Response Team (SCOERT) to address the opioid epidemic here in S.C. He later released the Opioid Emergency Response Plan in June 2018, and in January 2019, released the first Opioid Emergency Response Plan Progress Report.

The S.C. House passed a bill in 2018 (which currently resides in the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs) that places restrictions on the prescription of opioid medication for acute + postoperative pain management.

Medical research

Hospitals + universities are seeking solutions as well. Last year, Prisma Health + Clemson University began collaborating on research into an innovative treatment for babies who are born opioid-dependent. The goal is to reduce withdrawal symptoms by beginning low-dose medication within 24 hours of delivery before significant symptoms can begin.

Prisma Health also participated in the 2018 SC Governor’s Opioid Summit, which “bring[s] together state agencies, private partners, law enforcement, healthcare providers, first responders, and community members to combat the growing epidemic of opioid abuse, addiction, and deaths.”

Follow Prisma Health on Twitter, Facebook + Instagram to stay up-to-date on their work to help end the opioid crisis in the Upstate. Ⓟ