OT: Alabama, Tennessee, #1 and #2 respectively ...

quote:

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The rate of prescriptions that doctors write for painkillers varies widely by state, with states in the South having some of the highest rates, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Southern states — particularly Alabama, Tennessee and West Virginia — had the most painkiller prescriptions per person, the report said. For example, in Alabama, there were 143 prescriptions for opioid prescriptions written for every 100 people. That's about three times the rate seen in Hawaii, which had the lowest rate among U.S. states, with 52 prescriptions per 100 people.

The rate of prescriptions for oxymorphone, one type of opioid painkiller, was about 22 times higher in Tennessee than in Minnesota, which had the lowest rate of prescriptions for that drug, the report said.

"Florida shows that policy and enforcement matter. When you take serious action, you get encouraging results," Frieden said.

The death rate from prescription drug overdoses in Florida decreased 23 percent between 2010 and 2012, after legislators and law enforcement took actions to crack down on the widespread availability of narcotic painkillers, the CDC said.

The declines in Florida deaths linked to specific prescription painkillers -- oxycodone, methadone, and hydrocodone -- paralleled declines in prescribing rates for those drugs, the researchers said.

Florida officials took action after drug overdose deaths surged 61 percent between 2003 and 2009, the CDC reported.

The prescription drug epidemic in Florida became so rampant that other states were drawn into the drama, said Dr. M. Fahad Khan, assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

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