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Florida's opioid crisis: billions of pills, millions in campaign cash
New data shows extent of Florida's opioid epidemic from 2006 to 2012 and the role that major grocery stores and chain pharmacies played in fueling the crisis.
In a seven-year span that saw an opioid epidemic reach crisis levels, 5,556,553,071 hydrocodone and oxycodone pills flooded into Florida.
They poured across the state through shady clinics that became known as “pill mills.” But hundreds of millions streamed through grocery stores and chain pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, according to newly released data provided by the Drug Enforcement Agency to the Washington Post and analyzed by the Times/Herald.
Walmart distributed more than 289 million prescription opioid pills in Florida, the analysis found. Publix distributed about 194 million.
One Walgreens in Port Richey alone received an average 74,706 pills per month. The city’s population is 2,831.
Overall, the number of opioids that moved through Florida was second only to California. It amounted to an average of 42 pills per Floridian per year from 2006 through 2012.
While the figures may be new, the takeaway is not: Florida’s lax regulations on pain clinics lured addicts across state lines and helped fuel the national crisis.
Read full story at the Tampa Bay Times.
