Feb 22, 2018 2 min read

An editorial opinion from The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, W.Va.:

Congressman Greg Walden of Oregon is asking the right questions about the massive shipments of pain pills to West Virginia.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce plans to hold hearings in Washington on the role of prescription drug distribution in the raging opioid epidemic, and the committee sent a letter to the Ohio-based Miami-Luken drug wholesaling company with sharp questions about the huge quantities of painkillers shipped to several small towns in southern West Virginia.

How did drug companies not know they were “oversupplying” our state? These are important questions, and we hope the committee can get some answers.

But it is even more disturbing that despite crackdowns and media attention, the flow of prescription painkillers is still high. The Center for Disease Control reported last summer that nationally, opioid prescriptions had declined 18 percent between 2010 – considered the peak year – and 2015. But even with that reduction, the volume was still three times what it was in 1999.

This month, the West Virginia pharmacy board also reported significant drops in prescriptions for hydrocodone and oxycodone. But the state still reports 235.9 million doses of controlled substances, which is about 130 pills for each man, woman and child in the Mountain State.

It is encouraging that Congress is finally working to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable, but much more needs to be done to bring the supply and distribution of the dangerous drugs down to a reasonable level.