Ohio's (esp Columbus) Painkiller use SKYROCKETS

"The use of three major painkillers more than quadrupled in Ohio between 1997 and
2005, according to an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration. Oxycodone use in Ohio rose 689 percent, while
morphine and hydrocodone use both increased 149 percent. Oxycodone includes
Oxycontin and Percodan. Hydrocodone includes Vicodin and Lortab.
The oxycodone and morphine figures were boosted by growth rates in Columbus, where oxycodone use skyrocketed 1,227 percent and morphine use jumped 302 percent. It was the highest increase in Ohio, while Cleveland and Cincinnati had some of the lowest increases in the state.
The national average increases for oxycodone and morphine were 591 percent and 154 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Ohioans' use of codeine and meperidine -- better known by the brand name Demerol-- declined at a greater rate than national averages. Codeine use fell 33 percent, while meperidine dropped 37 percent. [READ MORE]
This means that all we need now are bona fide russian mafias and we're on the map!

But the irony in this Dispatch story is that a former neurologist had neurofibromatos.