The CDC mapped out prescriptions of painkillers across the US ' here's what it found

The United States has seen an overall decrease in opioid prescriptions in recent years, but some counties are doling out the drugs at six times the rate of lowest-prescribing counties, according toa federal reportreleased Thursday.Counties with more opioid prescriptions tended to be places with more white residents, higher unemployment and Medicaid enrollment rates, higher rates of diabetes, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in their report. They noted that opioid prescriptions can push people toward addiction and the use of heroin and other illicit drugs.The bottom line remains, we still have too many people getting opioid prescriptions for too many days at too high a dose, said acting CDC Director Anne Schuchat.The report analyzed data through 2015, and CDC officials noted the agency releasedits guidelinesfor prescribing opioids for chronic pain only last year.The data were based on the location of the pharmacy where the prescriptions were picked up, not where the patients lived. That could be one reason why rural counties had unexpectedly low rates of opioid prescribing, Schuchat saidresidents had to travel to another county with a bigger town to get their prescription.The researchers found that the amount of opioids prescribed topped out in 2010 at 782 morphine milligram equivalents per person and dipped to 640 by 2015. Officials said they were interested to see if the CDC prescribing guidelinesas well as other prescription policies enacted by statescould drive down prescriptions further.Still, the amount of opioids prescribed on a per person level was about three times as high in 2015 as it was in 1999.The report found that every part of the country had counties that had much higher prescribing rates than others, which officials said was a sign that clinicians did not have standards to use or disregarded them when prescribing opioids for pain.Still, Appalachiaone of the regions most marred by the opioid epidemicappeared to have a relatively large number of counties where prescription opioids were being dispensed at high rates.Clinical practice is really all over the place, Schuchat said.Schuchat noted that smart prescribing of painkillers could only help prevent more people from developing addictions, but that new limits wouldnt help people who were already facing addiction.SEE ALSO:Millions of people are living with a 'silent' disease they've likely never heard ofJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: See how geologists scoop molten-hot lava into a bucket for testing
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