How much is 76 Billion Narcotic Pain Pills?

America’s largest drug companies saturated the country with 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills.

A recent Washington Post article reported that America’s largest drug companies saturated the country with 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills from 2006 through 2012 as the nation’s deadliest drug epidemic spun out of control, according to previously undisclosed company data released as part of the largest civil action in U.S. history.

76 BILLION is a number almost too large to comprehend.

A billion is a number followed by nine zeros, so 76,000,000,000.  Let’s break it down to understand it.  One billion is the same as one thousand million, so 76 thousand million pills.

Still can’t understand a number that high?  According to the calculator site, a million seconds would be a little less than 12 days, a billion seconds on the other hand, is about 32 years – so 76 billion seconds would be around 2,432 years.  Or think of it another way, if you want to build your wealth, start saving pennies.  Don’t think pennies are worth much?  When you accumulate 76 billion pennies you would be a multi-millionaire with a net worth of $760 million!

So, 76 billion is a huge number.  What is the impact of  the 76 billion prescription pain pills distributed between 2006 and 2012 in the United States? It was enough pills to result in what is now known as the prescription opioid epidemic and to result in 100,000 deaths, an uncountable number of people with addiction as well as destroyed lives, families and communities.  It also created nice profits for the companies manufacturing the drugs.

The prescription drugs were not evenly distributed throughout the country,  Rural areas received a larger portion of pills per capita than urban areas did.  West Virginia received more pills per capita than any other state with 67 pills per person in the state annually.  Following West Virginia was Kentucky in second place with 63 pills annually for each person living there.  Third place was a tie between Tennessee and South Carolina with enough pills distributed in those states to equal an annual amount of 58 per capita.  Not surprisingly, West Virginia also took the top spot among the states with the most deaths from prescription opioids.

Opioid addiction increased at a rate that far exceeded treatment options and states and communities searched, not very successfully for ways to fight the opioid epidemic.

The losing battle against drugs continues, and as the Washington Post reports the recently released database information is a virtual road map to the nation’s opioid epidemic that began with prescription pills, spawned increased heroin use and resulted in the current fentanyl crisis, which added more than 67,000 to the death toll from 2013 to 2017.

If you or someone you care about, has an ongoing history of substance use and/or relapse, contact us at Gulf Breeze Recovery or call: 833.551.2356 to speak to an addiction expert to learn more about our program that has helped so many people overcome their addiction and embrace life.

We help people not just to survive, but to THRIVE!