As the nation’s opioid crisis grew, the pills got stronger

This April 30, 2007, file photo, shows the headquarters of Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio. An executive at Cardinal Health, one of the nation's largest drug distribution companies, said in a legal proceeding that the business has no obligation to the public when it comes to shipping prescription opioid painkillers. That's one of the disclosures in thousands of pages of court documents made public July 23, 2019, in lawsuits over the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File) This April 30, 2007, file photo, shows the headquarters of Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio. An executive at Cardinal Health, one of the nation's largest drug distribution companies, said in a legal proceeding that the business has no obligation to the public when it comes to shipping prescription opioid painkillers. That's one of the disclosures in thousands of pages of court documents made public July 23, 2019, in lawsuits over the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

By Associated Press July 25, 2019 5 min read

By the numbers

More than 70,200 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids – a two-fold increase in a decade.Source: CDC WONDER

WASHINGTON (AP) – In 2012, as the death toll from the nation’s opioid crisis mounted, drug companies shipped out enough of the powerful and addictive painkillers for every man, woman and child in the U.S. to have nearly a 20-day supply.

In some counties, mostly in Appalachia, it was well over 100 days.

An Associated Press analysis of drug distribution data released as a result of lawsuits against the industry also found that the amount of opioids as measured by total potency continued to rise early this decade even as the number of pills distributed began to dip.

The reason: Doctors were prescribing – and the industry was supplying – stronger pills.