A Drug Enforcement Administration database released last week shows that drug companies sold 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills from 2006 through 2012, contributing to an epidemic which has killed more than 200,000 people in the country since 1996.

Nearly 2,000 communities and counties, including Carbon and Schuylkill, have filed a class-action suit against big pharma companies, contending that the companies knowingly inundated their communities with addictive medications. Unsealed emails from company officials and sales personnel show a callous disregard for the havoc they were creating.

For the first time, a database maintained by the DEA that tracks the path of every single pain pill sold in the United States has been made public.

These records provide an unprecedented look at the surge of legal pain pills that fueled the prescription opioid epidemic, which resulted in nearly 100,000 deaths during the seven-year period ending in 2012.

For their part, the drug companies are blaming physicians who overprescribed drugs and doctors and pharmacists who work in “pill mills.” For these reasons, the companies are saying in response to plaintiffs in a consolidated major lawsuit in Cleveland, they should not be held responsible for those who abused the drugs.

In the five-county Times News area, Carbon County ranks first in pills distributed per person — 44 per year for every man, woman and child in the county that has a population of about 64,000.

Then comes Schuylkill County, 38 per person; Monroe, 37; Northampton, 25; and Lehigh, 23.

The Washington Post examined nearly 380 million transactions from 2006 through 2012 that are detailed in the DEA’s database and analyzed shipments of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, which account for three-quarters of the total opioid pill shipments to pharmacies. A Post spokesman said the data should help the public understand the impact of years of prescription pill shipments on their communities.

It took more than a year for news organizations to get access to this information, which the DEA refused to release until it was forced to do so by a three-judge panel. Efforts are underway to get more current figures.

This information comes on the heels of a 2018 study and survey by the DEA which concluded that “the high availability and corresponding demand leading to the misuse of illicit and prescription opioids is a crisis without geographic, demographic or socioeconomic boundaries in Pennsylvania.”

The study showed that Pennsylvania experienced 5,456 drug-related overdose deaths in 2017. This number represents a rate of 43 deaths per 100,000, far exceeding the national average of 22 per 100,000.

Among local counties, Lehigh had the highest number of deaths per 100,000 population at 47; followed by Carbon with 42; Monroe, 34; Northampton, 30; and Schuylkill, 27. Actual deaths were Lehigh, 307; Northampton, 175; Monroe, 102; Schuylkill, 66; and Carbon, 59.

Despite these alarming figures, they are actually lower than in the previous year, which is an encouraging development for state and local officials.

The DEA database showed that from 2006 to 2012, there were 19,951,456 prescription pain pills supplied to Carbon County. The largest distributor was AmerisourceBergen Drug (5.4 million), and the largest manufacturer was SpecGx LLC, 9 million.

The pharmacies receiving the largest number of these pills were First National Pharmacy of Lehighton, 3.86 million; Walmart, Mahoning Township, 2.6 million; Mauch Chunk Pharmacy, 1.9 million; RiteAid, Lansford, 1.85 million; and CVS, Nesquehoning, 1.81 million, according to database figures.

Pharmacies dispense these medications based on prescription orders from area physicians and other authorized professionals.

During this same period, there were 39.4 million prescription pain pills supplied in Schuylkill County. The top distributor was McKesson Corp., 8.7 million, while the top distributor was SpecGx LLC, 19.2 million. RiteAid, Ashland, received the most pills, 3 million, followed by CVS, Pottsville; Redner’s Pharmacy, Shenandoah; RiteAid, Shenandoah; and Caresite Pharmacy, Pottsville.

More than 55 million prescription pain pills were supplied to Lehigh County, 53 million to Northampton County and 43.8 million to Monroe County.

Among Monroe pharmacies, the RiteAid in Brodheadsville received the most pills, 4.6 million, while the CVS in Brodheadsville received the fifth most at 2.3 million.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com