Maryland fared well when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report last week on the nationwide decline in prescribing of opioid-based painkillers. The report found that overall, opioid prescription rates peaked in 2010 before subsiding each year through 2015.

All but three Maryland counties showed declines in the rate of such prescriptions per capita. Only Allegany, Garrett and Talbot saw increases between 2010 and 2015; however, the data is complicated. Opioid prescription rates remained above the national average in 17 of the state’s 23 counties.

The CDC measured prescriptions using a formula that equalized the variety of opioid painkillers and their strengths and dosages into what it called a “morphine milligram equivalent,” then measured that volume of opioids against populations to establish the per-capita rate. The table above depicts how Maryland counties and Baltimore City fared in descending order. It also shows what quartile the municipality falls in nationwide. Those in the third and fourth quartile are above the national average, while those in the first and second are below the national average.

—?Christopher Dinsmore