While officials can't know for sure why the number of deaths dropped in 2008, the health department did launch its "Use Only As Directed" public awareness campaign in May 2008, hoping to educate Utahns about the potential dangers of abusing prescription pain medication. They believe those efforts "have begun to pay off," said Dr. David Sundwall, health department executive director.

care practitioners as a way to help limit the quantity and availability of the medications. Since word of the guidelines has spread, Utah has received requests from some 20 states for information about the initiative.

The issue has become so severe nationwide that by 2004, at least 20,000 unintentional drug poisoning deaths occurred annually, compared with just more than 17,000 homicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Leonard J. Paulozzi, a CDC epidemiologist, told a congressional panel in October 2007 that while cocaine- and heroin-related deaths had grown slowly or stabilized over time, prescription drug deaths rose from 2,900 in 1999 to 7,500 in 2004, a 160 percent increase in five years. By 2004, those deaths outnumbered the total deaths involving heroin and cocaine, he said.

Earlier this year, the health department released a set of clinical guidelines on prescribing opioids for pain, directed at health-care practitioners as a way to help limit the quantity and availability of the medications. Since word of the guidelines has spread, Utah has received requests from some 20 states for information about the initiative.

E-MAIL: carrie@desnews.com