In 2014, 510 Oklahomans died from unintentional prescription drug overdoses, preliminary data from the state Health Department shows.

That’s a 5 percent decrease from 2013, when Oklahoma lost 538 residents to overdose. In 2014, because of the decrease, Oklahoma saw its lowest unintentional prescription drug overdose death rate, 13.2 deaths per 100,000 people, since 2007.

During the past few years, the state has seen some of the highest rates in the nation of painkiller abuse and deaths. In 2012, Oklahoma tied Kentucky for the third highest rate of painkillers prescribed, with a rate of 128 painkiller prescriptions per 100 people.

Darrell Weaver, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, said although 2014 saw only a 5 percent decrease in deaths, it’s still a decrease.

“I watched, over the last 10 years, those drug overdose deaths increase every year,” Weaver said. “Sometimes, I felt like ‘Oh my gosh — where’s the ceiling here?’ And anytime we can see the trend start the other way, I think that’s a very positive sign. Do we need more? We sure do.”

During the past several years, officials have lauded the state’s prescription drug monitoring program as a key resource in combating drug abuse.

The system tracks prescriptions filled for schedule II, III, IV and V controlled substances, which includes powerful painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone.

In November, state law will require that physicians regularly check the system when prescribing these drugs.

Gov. Fallin, in making her remarks, highlighted that change, noting she worked hard to support that law’s aim to cut down on “doctor shopping” and the over-prescribing of potentially dangerous prescription narcotics.

“It is my hope it will help to reduce prescription overdose deaths and prescription drug abuse in general,” she said.

Research continues to show that Oklahoma’s efforts to beef up that monitoring program are in line with best practices for combating prescription drug abuse.

This past week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that showed information from state prescription drug monitoring programs can be used to detect and measure prescribing patterns that suggest abuse and misuse of controlled substances.

Researchers studied data from eight state monitoring programs and found prescribing rates varied widely by state.

Additionally, they found that a small minority of prescribers are responsible for most opioid prescriptions, and people who receive opioid prescriptions often also receive benzodiazepine prescriptions, such as Xanax, despite the risk for adverse drug interactions.

Drug overdose is the leading cause of injury and death in the United States, in large part because of abuse and misuse of prescribing opioid painkillers, sedatives, tranquilizers and stimulants, according to the CDC.

“Every day, 44 people die in American communities from an overdose of prescription opioids and many more become addicted,” Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director, said in a news release. “States are on the front line of witnessing these overdose deaths. This research can help inform their prescription overdose prevention efforts and save lives.”

After states crack down on prescription drug abuse, they often see a spike in heroin use.

People who are addicted to opiate painkillers, such as oxycodone, are 40 times more likely to be addicted to heroin, CDC data shows.

In Oklahoma, the number of heroin deaths increased tenfold from three deaths in 2007 to 29 in 2012, health department data shows.

However, that increase could be because, in previous years, heroin deaths might have been underestimated and misclassified as morphine deaths.

Once in a person’s body, heroin metabolizes completely into morphine, so it is possible deaths could be misclassified, especially if there is no evidence of heroin use at the scene, and the heroin has already completely metabolized to morphine by the time the decedent’s lab samples are taken, according to the health department.

Weaver said his agency’s undercover drug agents haven’t yet seen an uptick in heroin activity.

“We’re watching that closely because I really felt the more we clamped down on some of these prescription opiates, the gloom would squeeze out on heroin, but we’re monitoring that closely,” Weaver said.

Meanwhile, Terri White, the state’s mental health commissioner, said the number of people seeking treatment for heroin and opiate abuse has increased along with overall numbers of people seeking treatment.

In the past year, 24 percent of residents who sought treatment from the publicly funded substance abuse treatment system sought care for opiate or heroin abuse.

Ten years ago, only 10 percent of people using the state’s system sought care for these drugs.

“Even though it’s not our largest category — alcohol is still the largest category — it’s still the fastest growing category, which is alarming, and why all of these efforts around prevention, treatment and changing prescribing practices are all critical,” White said.

It’s hard to draw conclusions from treatment data because of several factors that are involved in a person seeking treatment, White said.

“I can’t interpret from that if there are more people using heroin and switching from opioids or heroin,” White said.

Additionally, to combat prescription drug overdose, officials have pushed for more law enforcement agencies to carry naloxone, a prescription drug that can, if used early enough, reverse the effects of prescription opioid and heroin overdose.

Since 2014, Tulsa-area law enforcement officers have used naloxone on 23 people who survived after they were thought to be overdosing.

In July, Oklahoma City police announced they would train their officers to start carrying naloxone, and Midwest City police recently announced they would soon begin carrying the drug, as well.

White said these efforts, along with educating physicians on proper prescribing practices, are important actions the state has taken, and should continue to take, to combat abuse.

“This is a critical issue, and I think we should be hopeful about the decrease,” White said, “but we have to be committed to continuing all of the efforts to ensure it continues on a downward trend quickly because we’re talking about Oklahoman lives.”