212M Pain Pills Flooded Baltimore County In 7 Years, Report Shows

A new report published by The Washington Post shows the staggering number of opioid pills that flooded the country and contributed to the opioid crisis. The Post also published the figures showing how many pain pills reached individual states and counties, including Baltimore County.

The figures come on the heels of the federal government's report this month that drug overdose deaths declined in 2018 for the first time in three decades in the United States.

According to the data published by The Post, 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills were distributed across the country between 2006-2012. The figures come from a DEA database that The Post and The Charleston Gazette-Mail sued to obtain. A judge in Cleveland overseeing a combined lawsuit from cities across the country against drug companies granted the newspapers partial access to the database following an appeal.

In Maryland 1,165,084,559 prescription pain pills were distributed between 2006-2012.

In Baltimore County, the report says 212,423,571 prescription pain pills were distributed between 2006-2012.

These were the pharmacies where the most pills were distributed in Baltimore County during that time period, according The Post's data:

• Drug City Pharmacy in Dundalk distributed nearly 16.4 million pills.
• Remedi SeniorCare in Rosedale distributed more than 7.6 million pills.

In its report, The Post said 75 percent of the pills distributed in the seven-year period came from six companies with pharmacies: McKesson Corp., Walgreens, Cardinal Health, CVS, Walmart and AmerisourceBergen. Four other companies were identified by the paper as being among the top 10 distributors of opioids: Smith Drug Co., Rite Aid, Kroger and H.D. Smith.

According to the latest provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 67,744 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2018, a 5 percent decline from the previous year. The agency predicts that number will rise to more than 680,000 once all data is reported.

In Maryland, there were 2,392 drug overdose deaths in 2018, an increase of 4 percent since 2017, according to the latest provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control.

More than 300 people died from fatal overdoses in Baltimore County in 2018, according to County Executive Johnny Olszewski, who said most were opoiod-related.

What Baltimore County Is Doing

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski assembled a working group to address the opioid epidemic in Baltimore County.

"The County has consistently had the second highest number of overdose deaths in the state," he said, after Baltimore City, which has the highest overdose fatality rate of any city in the United States.

Regularly, Baltimore County offers Naloxone training sessions to community members. This medication reverses the effect of an opioid overdose. You can also get training and find out more about Naloxone from the Maryland Department of Health. Anyone in Maryland can get Naloxone without a prescription.

Where To Get Help For Addiction

People seeking help can also call the Maryland Crisis Hotline, which provides 24/7 support, at 1-800-422-0009. Marylanders grappling with a substance use disorder can find help as well at BeforeItsTooLateMD.org.

In addition, there is a treatment locator on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website.

Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are available locally as well as Nar-Anon and Al-Anon for family members.

Read the full report on the opioid epidemic from The Washington Post.

— By Patch editors Feroze Dhanoa and Elizabeth Janney