The most overmedicated state in the U.S. is West Virginia

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Daily News

West Virginia has the highest prescription drug use of any state, according to Forbes.com.

Citizens of the Mountain State filled 18.4 prescriptions per person last year, compared with a national per-capita rate of 11.6 prescriptions.

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Some 12.3% of adults living in West Virginia have diabetes, while more than 68% are overweight or obese. Some 27% smoke, close to 30% report poor mental health, and nearly one fifth say they have a disability, according to the most recent stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The other states that made the Top Ten List, in descending order, are Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Iowa, Missouri and Vermont.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2010/08/18/2010-08-18_the_most_overmedicated_state_in_the_us_is_west_virginia.html

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Yeah. Coal mining sucks. n/t

[jdlh8894]

8. Yeah,it does. However,

that is not what over half the population does.

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. When the menfolk die at 60, it has ramifications for everyone. n/t

[blueworld]

26. but the air & water are full of the pollution & filth - side effects n/t

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jdlh8894]

6. Not calling you out,but

as someone who was born and raised in West Virginia,I take offense to that remark!

[FedUpWithIt All]

25. I also find your remark in poor taste. n/t

[Bill McBlueState]

3. I see evidence of "medicated"

but not "overmedicated." If West Virginians are actually in poor health compared to residents of other states, it makes sense that they would take more medicine.

[Historic NY]

Why are they in poor health? Substandard education comes to mind..

[jsamuel]

5. high population of elderly and coal miners?

[Dr.Phool]

7. More likely, dirt poor poverty.

I was born there, in Logan County. Luckily, my parents escaped when I was 3 years old to Cleveland. I remember spending a little time at my grandmothers house as a kid. The poverty was crushing.

I'm 58 years old now. Two years ago, we went down to scatter my mothers ashes where she was raised. There's a highway going through there now, but all the same shacks from 50 years ago, are still on the sides of those hills. Time seems to have stood still.

on edit: Oh, and up the road is a Best Western, that's probably 5-10 years old, where I stayed overnight. It was right about the time when unemployment was skyrocketing.

Massey Energy was having a "Job Fair" there that week-end.

[progressoid]

13. That doesn't explain Iowa and Vermont.

Both are in the top ten in education in the US. I'm going to go with age of population (at least for Iowa)

[Critters2]

15. Yeah, that's almost certainly the case in Iowa.

Vermont surprises me, though.

[Lorien]

19. Vermont doesn't get much sunlight throughout much of the year

like Scandinavia, where the people are very well cared for, yet seasonal affective disorder still takes a toll.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

31. Maybe. But much more important must be the high proportion with access to doctors

in Vermont. As bad as things seem in West Virginia, Tennessee, etc based on prescriptions written per person, just think of all the people there who have very limited access to doctors and must self-medicate or do without medicines.

A much better measure of state-by-state health might be annual death rates by age.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

4. are you joking? or just not aware of the statistics?

There are 16 states in this nation where "properly" prescribed prescription drugs (again, this does NOT count accidental overdoses!) kill more people than traffic accidents. Not to mention:

"...recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) indicates that 16 states now see more drug-related deaths than any other type of injury-related death and that number is rapidly growing.

Some of the key findings in the report include a more than tripling of opioid analgesic-induced deaths between 1999 and 2006. In 2006, roughly 40 percent of all poisoning deaths were caused by opioid analgesics. In the 35 to 54 age group, these drugs are the leading cause of death overall in the United States."

http://www.naturalnews.com/027216_drugs_health_pain.html

I could go on and on citing links and sources but instead I will highly recommend Melody Petersen's excellent "Our Daily Meds" for more detail. None of this even mentions the problems of doctor payoffs for illegal "off market' prescriptions.

It ain't JUST WV: the whole country is over-pharmied.

[Taverner]

10. Yes it is, but given the circumstances, It doesn't suprise me

And Opiates DO make you feel better about a shitty situation

Why do you think England wanted to sell Opium to Chinese slave laborers?

It would be nice if those looking to solve the problem went for the roots rather than the leaves...

[pattmarty]

12. Does it by chance give a breakdown of the drugs? And, what.........

.......exactly are "opioid analgesics"? Hey, just don't get caught with a "roach" in your car though.

[catzies]

29. An "opioid analgesics" would be your Oxycontins and your Tylenol+codeines. n/t

[pattmarty]

30. Thx.

[Taverner]

9. Hmmm lemme see lemme see...

WV is one of the poorest states...the major industry is coal mining, which is not a fun job...the US treats WV like its a two headed step child....

Yep - I'd be looking for some opiate based happiness too!

[Lorien]

16. Plus they have a very poor educational system and some of the worst diets

in the US. Big Pharma would like every State to be just like WV.

[Taverner]

17. Heck we should legalize everything

One thing you can say about "Hillbilly Heroin" is that at least its cleaner than Black Tar Street Heroin

[JVS]

24. I never understood the condescending attitude that a lot of people have toward "hillbilly heroin"

The stuff is produced by pharmaceutical companies, so it's pure and can be reasonably measured for dosage. It's like the opposite of meth, which is total garbage because it's made in the worst circumstances. The kids I talked to who did heroin only made the switch because they were sick of paying good money for oxy.

[Taverner]

27. Exactly - its way more safer than street stuff

John Phillips (of the Mamas and the Papas) and Keith Richards didn't do actual Heroin, but instead shot Dilaudids, which give you the same high without the impurities.

[pattmarty]

11. Oxycontin & Vicodin, I'd be willing to bet. I live in Ar and that shit.............

.........sells like hotcakes. That and Meth is HUGE in a lot of southern states. Hey, the poor people gotta make some money somehow. This is starting to "mirror" the prohibition era.

[Taverner]

18. I am surprised no one has started growing Opium

Its easy to grow, easy to extract - and its a hell of a lot cheaper

[pattmarty]

22. Interesting, I never thought of that before you bought it up...............

............I am not into horticulture, but Marijuana is grown ALL over the US now and if Opium is as easy to grow as Marijuana is, jeeeeez. With the "economics" in this country now, nothing would surprise me as to the "entrepreneurial spirit" of out of work Americans. I better use this::sarcasm:

[Taverner]

28. Opium grows wild all over

And yes, I imagine we might see entrepreneurs who might want to just cut the middle man out, and sell raw Opium

It's a flower that grows in 1 month.

[JVS]

23. They probably have. The thing is that opium is hard to find because it is almost invariably made...

into the more lucrative heroin. Kind of like how cocaine would all be made into crack if there weren't a particularly solid cocaine culture of well to do party people.

[JVS]

14. I have a hard time believing that. I would think that many WV-ians are too poor to have access...

to medical treatment.

[Recursion]

21. A lot of medicaid and medicare part D NT