
Drug firms fueled ‘pill mills’ in rural WV - joe5150
http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-health/20160523/drug-firms-fueled-pill-mills-in-rural-wv
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kbouck
For a street-level perspective, I recommend the documentary "Oxyana" [1] about
pill abuse in Oceana, WV

And for a more in-depth look at the origins check out Frontline's "Chasing
Heroin" [2]

[1] [https://youtu.be/jrE1uxGd6OQ](https://youtu.be/jrE1uxGd6OQ)

[2] [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/announcement/chasing-
heroi...](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/announcement/chasing-heroin-a-two-
hour-special-premieres-feb-23-on-frontline/)

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gohrt
Half the story is missing -- who is paying for those pills? Insurance
coverage? Individuals paying cash (and suspected of reselling, or fueling
personal addictions?) Are individual patients' prescriptions for two many
pills? Or too many patients getting prescriptions compared to averages in
other cities/states?

~~~
ubernostrum
Many "pill mills" are essentially drug-dealing operations using a doctor and a
pharmacy (who get a cut of the profit) to obtain huge quantities of opioids
which are then sold on demand, cash-only basis, to anyone who wants them.

In some cases the doctor gets paid to just sign a big stack of blank
prescription slips to be filled in later. In other cases the doctor is paid to
"prescribe" for anyone who comes in and complains of pain.

Also note that quite a lot of the problem is blamed on pharmaceutical
companies allegedly misrepresenting the effectiveness of "extended-release"
formulations of their drugs, leading patients to take larger doses and become
dependent. Purdue has plead guilty to misleading the public about the risk of
dependence with OxyContin, for example.

