Essex County Seeing Less Opioid Prescriptions: Report

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The number of people that have been prescribed opioids in Essex County has fallen by more than 15 percent from 2010 to 2015, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

While six other New Jersey counties ranked in the top 30 percent nationally for opioid prescription amounts per person, in Essex County, the average annual prescription amount dropped from 482.11 to 407.14 MME… about the equivalent of nine to eleven, 30-mg. oxycodone tablets, the Asbury Park Press reported. (Read the full article here)

According to the CDC, the most common drugs involved in prescription opioid overdose deaths include:

• Methadone
• Oxycodone (such as OxyContin)
• Hydrocodone (such as Vicodin)

“The current epidemic of drug overdoses began in the 1990s, driven by increasing deaths from prescription opioids that paralleled a dramatic increase in the prescribing of such drugs for chronic pain,” CDC officials wrote in the 2017 Surveillance Report of Drug-Related Risks and Outcomes [in the] United States.

“The problem with misuse of prescription drugs of various kinds is related to high levels of prescribing of such medications,” CDC officials stated in the report. “For example, in 2016, prescribers wrote 66.5 opioid and 25.2 sedative prescriptions for every 100 Americans.”

• See related article: 31 N.J. Doctors Lost Jobs In Statewide Opioid Crackdown
• See related article: Newark Sues 11 Opioid Makers, 'Behind The Scenes Drug Suppliers'

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