CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says his lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has brought "real change" in the opioid epidemic.
Morrisey, who filed a lawsuit against the DEA in 2017 that was resolved last year, says the result has meant significant cuts in the number of pills that DEA will allow to be manufactured next year. The proposed limits slash hydrocodone manufacturing by 19 percent and oxycodone by 8.8 percent in one year.
“It’s exciting to see real progress in the battle against opioid abuse,” Morrisey said. “The numbers are in. Opioid manufacturing, prescribing and dispensing rates are down, but we aren’t done yet. Now is the time to fight more vigorously than ever so we can build on our success.”
The DEA finalized a new quota rule in July 2018 that embraced the Morrisey's suggestion for greater input and consideration of illegal diversion in determining how many opioid pills can be manufactured each year. The DEA previously based it on the number of pills pharmaceutical manufacturers expected to sell within a year.
Morrisey called that approach broken, saying it did not account for the number of pills diverted for abuse.
In five years, the agency's aggregate production quota for hydrocodone has been cut by 65 percent – from 99.6 million grams in 2015 to 34.8 million grams in 2020. The production quota for oxycodone for 2020 is 72.6 million grams, down from 141.4 million grams in 2015 – a 48.7 percent decrease.
Prescribing and dispensing rates of opioid painkillers also have begun to decrease. A preliminary estimate shows 32 million doses of hydrocodone being dispensed in West Virginia in 2019, down from the 99 million doses of hydrocodone dispensed in 2011.
Morrisey's office also developed a best practices toolkit for prescribing and dispensing opioids, which has been endorsed by more than 25 national and state stakeholders.
According to the AG's office, those efforts have helped West Virginia see a 51 percent drop in opioid prescriptions since 2013. That figure is from an IQVIA-study released in May and analyzed in June by Axios.
