On 2017 Mar 12, John Tucker commented:

The article summarizes the results of Ohio’s 2011-2015 program to reduce prescription painkiller overdose deaths by stating that prescribing was reduced by 10%, leading to a reduction in the percentage of drug overdose deaths attributable to prescription painkillers from 45% to 22%.

While it would be natural for a reader to assume that this percentage reduction arose from a decline in prescription drug overdoses, this is not the case. Instead, overdoses due to prescription painkillers remained relatively constant while heroin and illicit fentanyl deaths skyrocketed.

CDC WONDER gives the following death counts for Ohio in 2011 and 2015

Heroin: 325 in 2011 and 1103 in 2015

Other Opioids: 197 in 2011 and 340 in 2015

Methadone: 70 in 2011 and 50 in 2015

Other synthetic narcotics (including fentanyl): 57 in 2011 and 891 in 2015

Unspecified narcotics: 62 in 2011 and 80 in 2015

Total opioid overdose deaths: 711 in 2011 and 2464 in 2015.

Thus the opioid overdose death rate in Ohio increased by 246% during the analysis period, compared to 40% for the United States as a whole.

The program cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered a success, and simply serves as yet another example of the futility of supply-side focused approaches to drug abuse.

On 2017 Mar 12, John Tucker commented:

The article summarizes the results of Ohio’s 2011-2015 program to reduce prescription painkiller overdose deaths by stating that prescribing was reduced by 10%, leading to a reduction in the percentage of drug overdose deaths attributable to prescription painkillers from 45% to 22%.

While it would be natural for a reader to assume that this percentage reduction arose from a decline in prescription drug overdoses, this is not the case. Instead, overdoses due to prescription painkillers remained relatively constant while heroin and illicit fentanyl deaths skyrocketed.

CDC WONDER gives the following death counts for Ohio in 2011 and 2015

Heroin: 325 in 2011 and 1103 in 2015

Other Opioids: 197 in 2011 and 340 in 2015

Methadone: 70 in 2011 and 50 in 2015

Other synthetic narcotics (including fentanyl): 57 in 2011 and 891 in 2015

Unspecified narcotics: 62 in 2011 and 80 in 2015

Total opioid overdose deaths: 711 in 2011 and 2464 in 2015.

Thus the opioid overdose death rate in Ohio increased by 246% during the analysis period, compared to 40% for the United States as a whole.

The program cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered a success, and simply serves as yet another example of the futility of supply-side focused approaches to drug abuse.