Does Winneshiek County have an opioid problem?

A judge in Oklahoma on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay the state $572 million for the company's role in the production of opioids, with the money going to treatment programs in the state.

While the verdict fell far short of the $17 billion that Oklahoma had asked for, it is still seen as a breakthrough in the battle against opioid abuse.

The court ruling comes at the same time that the Washington Post has created a map that graphically represents data from the Drug Enforcement Administration that tracks the path of every single pain pill sold in the United States.  (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/dea-pain-pill-database/)

The map shows that many Appalachian counties have the highest rates of opioid use.  In Northeast Iowa, opioid use is shown as ranging from 11.8 pills per person per year in Chickasaw County to 30.5 pills per person per year in Howard County.  Here are the figures:

Allamakee County 18.1 pills per person per year

Winneshiek County 12.1 pills per person per year

Howard County 30.5 pills per person per year

Clayton County 14.0 pills per person per year

Fayette County 26.5 pills per person per year

Chickasaw County 11.8 pills per person per year.