Here's How Many Painkillers Flooded Sachem-Area Pharmacies

RONKONKOMA, NY — Billions of painkillers flowed through nearly 83,000 pharmacies across the country, including many in the Sachem area. A previously unreleased database managed by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration logged where roughly 70 billion pills containing oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped to, The Washington Post reported Monday.

While the database doesn’t specify what happened after the pharmacies received the shipments, it does illuminate the sheer number of pills that flooded communities. The data includes numbers from 2006 to 2012, the Post reported. Chain and retail pharmacies were included.

The database said 36 pharmacies within five miles of Ronkonkoma received over 38 million pain pills from 2006 to 2012. The area has a population of about 129,000.

Here’s what the database found for the individual pharmacies:

SLATER PHARMACY INC

407 HAWKINS AVENUE, LAKE RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 3.4 million

CVS ALBANY

305 MAIN ST, HOLBROOK, NY 11741

Pills received: 3 million

MAIORINO PHARMACY & SURGICAL INC

233 UNION AVENUE, HOLBROOK, NY 11741

Pills received: 2.5 million

HEALTH & BEAUTY AIDS

886 JOHNSON AVE, RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 2.1 million

CVS ALBANY

935 HORSEBLOCK RD, FARMINGVILLE, NY 11738

Pills received: 1.9 million

CVS ALBANY

729 PORTION ROAD, RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 1.7 million

RITE AID

139 RONKONKOMA AVENUE, LAKE RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 1.6 million

INDEPENDENT OTC CORP

1036 MAIN STREET, HOLBROOK, NY 11741

Pills received: 1.5 million

MEDICAL GROUP PHARMACY INC

650 HAWKINS AVE STE A, LAKE RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 1.3 million

THE STOP & SHOP SUPER MARKET

2350 N OCEAN AVENUE, FARMINGVILLE, NY 11738

Pills received: 1 million

VALUE VILLAGE II

270 PORTION ROAD, RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 748,820

EMBLEMHEALTH SERVICES COMPANY

640 HAWKINS AVENUE, LAKE RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 310,830

CVS ALBANY

751 HAWKINS AVENUE, RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 864,200

THE STOP & SHOP SUPERMARKET

425 PORTION ROAD, LAKE RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 601,180

RITE AID PHARMACY #10660

601 PORTION ROAD, LAKE RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 179,200

NEIL'S PHARMACY INC.

712 PORTION ROAD, RONKONKOMA, NY 11779

Pills received: 488,080 pills

RITE AID PHARMACY #10638

371 HORSE BLOCK ROAD, FARMINGVILLE, NY 11738

Pills received: 365,600

K MART CORP

2280 OCEAN AVENUE, FARMINGVILLE, NY 11738

Pills received: 710,120

Five pharmacies in Kentucky, Illinois, Idaho and Kansas received the most painkillers per person each year, the Post found. With a total of nearly 6.8 million pills, Shearer Drug in Clinton County, Kentucky, saw the most pills per person per year at 96.

Areas deluged with pain pills saw far higher higher death rates related to opioids, the Post found. While the national rate was 4.6 deaths per 100,000 residents, counties that received the most pain pills per person saw rates that were more than three times higher.

Perhaps the most startling finding was that just 15 percent of pharmacies received nearly half of the pain pills.

According to the latest provisional data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were nearly 68,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States last year, a 5 percent decline from 2017. The agency predicted that number will rise to more than 680,000 once all data is reported to them.

In its previous report in July, the Post said 75 percent of the pills distributed in the seven-year period came from six companies with pharmacies: McKesson Corp., Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, CVS and Walmart. Four other companies were identified by the paper as being among the top 10 distributors of opioids: Smith Drug Co., Rite Aid, Kroger and H.D. Smith.

Patch national staffer Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this report.