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Report: Opioid Abuse Plagues The Rural South, Including North Carolina

A partial map of the density of opioid abuse in the U.S. (Courtesy: Castlight Health)

A new study suggests North Carolina is home to four of the top 25 cities for opioid abuse, and the vast majority of cities on the list are located in the South.

The report, published by Castlight Health, found Wilmington to be the number one city in the U.S. for the percentage of people abusing opioids.

Hickory was in the top five. Jacksonville and Fayetteville made the list too.

In fact, the only state with more cities on the list is Alabama.

The report used two criteria to identify abuse: receiving more than a 90-day supply of an opiate and getting prescriptions from more than four doctors in a five-year period.

Typically, those misusing these medications are older, lower income, and tend to live in rural parts of the South.

Broadly speaking, the study found that one-third of all opioid prescriptions are being abused. According to Castlight, prescriptions for the drugs quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, and cost the U.S. economy $56 billion annually.

Sean Bueter joined WFDD in August 2015 as a reporter covering issues across the Piedmont Triad and beyond.Previously, Sean was a reporter, host and news director at WBOI in Fort Wayne, Ind., just a few hours from where he grew up. He also sorted Steve Inskeep's mail as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C.Sean has experience on a variety of beats, including race, wealth and poverty, economic development, and more. His work has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and APM's Marketplace.In his spare time, Sean plays tennis (reasonably well), golf (reasonably poorly), and scours local haunts for pinball machines to conquer.

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