Two Counties Received Nearly 55 Million Pain Pills From 2006-12

The Washington Post on July 19 reported county-level use of prescription pain pills in the United States from 2006 through 2012.

According to the Post’s reporting, Blair County received 43.9 million prescription pain pills for that period, enough for 49 pills per person per year. In Bedford County, 11 million prescription pain pills were distributed, enough for 31 pills per person per year.

The Washington Post states that, “The Post believes this is a critically important set of data, which is why we are making it public and accessible to readers and other journalists. We think there are hundr...