A new report shows 1.6 billion opioid doses were shipped to Missourians from 2012-2017.U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) released the latest report of her investigation into opioid manufacturers and distributors. “Fueling an Epidemic: A Flood of 1.6 Billion Doses of Opioids into Missouri and the Need for Stronger DEA Enforcement” describes how the “Big Three” pharmaceutical distribution companies together shipped around 1.6 billion dosage units of opioid products to Missouri alone between 2012 and 2017.McCaskill is the top-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.“It’s staggering. Over six years we averaged 260 pills for every man, woman and child in Missouri,” McCaskill said. “The opioid crisis these pills have fueled is a failure of policy and oversight by the government and a failure of basic human morality on the part of many pharmaceutical companies and distributors — a failure that has destroyed families and communities all over our state.”The report highlights the number of suspicious orders reported as a result of that volume of opioids as well as the lack of administrative enforcement action taken by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) against distributors in general to prevent the diversion of opioids to the black market.“Missouri ranks 14th among the 50 states in terms of grams of hydrocodone and oxycodone distributed per 100,000 state residents in 2016. And according to the St. Louis County drug monitoring program, county physicians prescribe enough painkillers per month to provide every resident with three pills,” the report states.The report’s key findings include:• McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health, who each recorded 2017 revenue in excess of $125 billion and ranked within the top 15 companies on the 2017 Fortune 500, shipped around 1.6 billion dosage units of opioid products to Missouri alone between 2012 and 2017.• This volume of opioids equated to more than 260 dosage units for every man, woman, and child in Missouri during the six-year period. During 2015, the peak year for opioid shipments to Missouri from 2012 to 2017, the three major distributors shipped approximately 52 opioid dosage units per person in the state.• These “big three” distributors have also consistently failed to meet their suspicious opioid order reporting obligations over the past 10 years, in some cases surrendering licenses for distribution facilities and paying escalating fines after DEA and Department of Justice investigations.• In general, data suggests significant opioid prescribing and black-market diversion activity occurs in the Missouri counties to the south and southwest of St. Louis and in counties along the Missouri-Arkansas border, particularly Barry, Howell and St. Francois counties.More about the report is available at www.mccaskill.senate.gov/opioid-investigation.Warren County Record logoAaronSicklerasickler@townnews.comhttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/54d8c941e2b7fedb7e7f15a9e7b97c8d?d=mm