Opioid Supply Boomed As Crisis Worsened

WASHINGTON (AP) – An Associated Press analysis of prescription opioid data shows enough drugs were shipped in 2012 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. to have nearly a 20-day supply even as a national overdose and addiction crisis deepened.   The AP crunched federal Drug Enforcement Administration numbers made public this month on the distribution of opioids from 2006 through 2012.  The data is at the heart of a series of lawsuits filed by governments trying to hold the drug industry responsible for the opioid crisis. Drugmakers and distributors deny the charges.
By accounting the potency of drugs, the AP found that the total amount of opioids distributed per year over that period increased by 55%.