Why Counting Prescription Pills DOESN’T WORK The Headlines Always Sound Bad BUT....

The headlines sound really bad… “4 Mohave County doctors’ prescribed 6 million opioid pills in 1 year” https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-health/2017/11/09/four-top-15-opioid-doctors-prescribed-14-million-opioid-pill-prescriptions-1-year/822802001/

Imagine 6,000,000 pills in one county with a population of 200,000 people, WOW… We should have DEA throw them in prison for life, right… But wait…

Most pain medications like morphine, Vicoden, Percoden are all 4 hour medications requiring 6 per day, 180 month or 2160 per year.

Studies tell us 100,000,000 Americans suffer chronic pain at any one time. That’s around 1/3 of the US population. Mohave County’s population is 200,000 1/3^rd is around 66500.

If only 1/10th of Mohave County’s estimated pain patients require an opioid that’s 6,650 patients. 2160 pills per year TIMES 6,650 patients = 14,364,000 pills per year. Fourteen Million Pills

If only 1/5th of Mohave County’s estimated pain patients require an opioid that’s 3,325 patients…2160 pills per year TIMES 3,325 patients = 7,182,000 pills per year. Seven Million Pills

So actually if these pain specialists are writing the majority of schedule II medications 6,000,000 is only enough for 2777 of the estimated 6,650 pain patients in Mohave County, and nowhere near the estimated 66,500 (1/3^rd of MC’s 200,000) pain patients.

That’s why counting prescription pills sounds really bad... 

So always check the numbers....