In 2013, enough controlled substances were prescribed in Louisiana – 2006.2 prescriptions per 1,000 population – that each and every person in the state could have received two, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The combined prescribing rate for opioids, benzodiazepines, and stimulants in Louisiana topped the eight states included in the CDC report, with West Virginia in second at 1,695.7 prescriptions per 1,000. At the low end, California was the only one of the eight states where the average controlled substance prescription rate was less than one per person, but just barely at 994.8 per 1,000 people, followed by Idaho at 1,292.3 per 1,000, according to the CDC investigators in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Surveillance Summary (2015 Oct;64[SS09]:1-14).
Of the three categories of controlled substances, opioids were by far the most commonly prescribed. At 1,021.7 prescriptions per 1,000 people, the opioid prescription rate in Louisiana was greater than the total controlled substance prescription rate in California. West Virginia had the second highest rate at 929.3, and California had the lowest at 596.3.
Prescription rates for stimulants and benzodiazepines were highest in Louisiana at 403.9 and 580.6 per 1,000 people, respectively. Maine had the next-highest stimulant prescription rate at 293.9, and West Virginia had the second-highest benzodiazepine prescription rate at 572.1. California had the lowest rate in both categories at 87.7 and 310.8, respectively.
Women received opioids and benzodiazepines at much higher rates than did men in every state, but stimulant-prescribing rates were higher for men in five states.
Opioid use was highest in people aged 55-64 years, though use spiked dramatically past the age of 25. People in Louisiana aged 55-64 receiving opioids had the highest controlled substance prescription rate of any measured age group, at 1,715.7 per 1,000 people. Benzodiazepine use was most common in people over 65 years, and stimulant prescriptions were highest in people younger than 18, likely because of the prevalence of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the CDC investigators said.
The MMWR report used data collected by the Prescription Behavior Surveillance System. The eight states were included because they submitted data to the Prescription Behavior Surveillance System in time for the report, and they represent about one-quarter of the U.S. population.