Earlier this week, a federal judge in an opioid lawsuit lifted the restriction on publication of a Drug Enforcement Agency database that shows the number of prescription pain pills distributed nationwide.
According to a Washington Post analysis of the database data, approximately 325.4 million prescription pain pills were supplied to Northeast Tennessee between 2006 and 2013, or 76.7 pills per resident.
That includes Carter, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties.
Data shows more pain pills were shipped to Sullivan County than any other Northeast Tennessee county over that six-year span, with about 108 million pills supplied to the county.
Hamblen County received more pills per resident than any other county, with about 138 pills prescribed per person.
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| TN Judicial District | DAG | Counties Represented | Number of Prescription Pain Pills Supplied to Each County, 2006-2012 | Number of Pills Supplied, per Resident, 2006-20012 |
| 1 | Tony Clark (listed) | Carter | 22,530,070 | 55.6 |
| Johnson | 8,099,200 | 63.7 | ||
| Unicoi | 11,201,190 | 88.1 | ||
| Washington | 59,196,804 | 70.9 | ||
| 2 | Barry Staubus (Lead) | Sullivan | 108,034,432 | 99.3 |
| 3 | Dan Armstrong | Greene | 30,590,340 | 64.5 |
| Hamblen | 59,853,400 | 138.3 | ||
| Hancock | 2,665,310 | 56.4 | ||
| Hawkins | 23,196,680 | 58.6 |
