Prescription pain medication in Utah

More Utahns in recent years have died of unintentional prescription pain medication overdoses than in car crashes, according to the Utah Department of Health.

Among UDOH's other facts:

• Since 2000, the number of deaths associated with prescribed opioid pain medicines has increased 400 percent.

• Between 1999 and 2004, 47 percent of those deaths were of people who had an active prescription for the drug determined to have killed them. And 75 percent had a valid prescription for that drug within the last year.

• Only 15 percent had no record of a prescription being filled for the opioid found in their system at the time of death.

• In 2006, unintentional overdose due to prescribed opioids was the fourth-leading cause of death for Utahns ages 25-54.

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