Through stories on multiple platforms and an interactive map, “Opiate overload” questioned the VA’s over-use of heavily addictive narcotic painkillers, which has contributed to an overdose rate among the agency’s patients of nearly double the national average. We found that the number of opiate prescriptions had increased by 270 percent since the September 11th attacks, far outstripping the increase in patients and contributing to a fatal overdose rate among VA patients that the agency’s own researchers pegged at nearly double the national average. We also found that the narcotic prescription rate varied wildly across VA facilities, with doctors at the VA hospital in Roseburg, Ore. prescribing eight times as many opiates last year as their counterparts in New York City. Since veterans likely endure similar amounts of pain in the two locations, that finding bolstered our conclusion that the spike in prescriptions was not simply a reflection of growing medical need.
