A new study summarized in Reuters Health says that doctors in states that track painkiller prescriptions were nearly one-third less likely to offer patients dangerously addicting opioids. The launch of drug-monitoring programs in 24 states led to an immediate 30 percent drop in prescriptions for Schedule II opioids, the most addictive, in patients with pain complaints, the study showed.

California is among the states that have such a monitoring program. CURES 2.0 (Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System) is a database of Schedule II, III and IV controlled substance prescriptions dispensed in California serving the public health, regulatory oversight agencies, and law enforcement. California law (Health and Safety Code Section 11165.1) requires all California licensed prescribers authorized to prescribe scheduled drugs to register for access to CURES 2.0 by July 1, 2016 or upon issuance of a Drug Enforcement Administration Controlled Substance Registration Certificate, whichever occurs later. California licensed pharmacists must register for access to CURES 2.0 by July 1, 2016, or upon issuance of a Board of Pharmacy Pharmacist License, whichever occurs later.

Lead author Yuhua Bao, a health economist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and colleagues analyzed 26,275 office visits for pain in 24 states that implemented prescription drug-monitoring programs from 2001 to 2010. As reported in Health Affairs, in these states the probability of a doctor prescribing a Schedule II opioid dropped from 5.5 percent to 3.7 percent – a more than 30 percent reduction. The results were immediate and held for three years.

The study confirmed Bao’s hypothesis that physician drug-monitoring programs, which have been implemented in a wide variety of forms in every state except Missouri, are an effective tool to combat the opioid drug epidemic. But she stressed the need for other means as well.

“There are no magic bullets here,” said Dr. Caleb Alexander, who directs the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness in Baltimore, in a phone interview. “The interventions are needed along the continuum here – from manufacturers to end-users. This is important to keep in mind given the magnitude of addiction, injuries and deaths,” said Alexander, who was not involved in the current study.

Overdose deaths, along with sales of prescription opioids, have quadrupled since 1999, the CDC estimates. More than 165,000 Americans died from overdoses related to prescription opioids from 1999 to 2014. Some of these deaths might have been avoided if doctors had been able to check a prescription drug-monitoring database, Alexander said.

A database could show when patients are obtaining opioids under their own name from multiple doctors, which might assist in identifying potential abuse and dependency, he noted.

Drug-monitoring databases may make doctors think twice before prescribing pain medications for a variety of reasons in addition to uncovering “doctor shopping” by patients, the study authors write. Knowing that they’re being watched may serve as a deterrent, and the programs may generally increase awareness of the dangers of prescribing opioids, they say.

Primary-care doctors treating adults for chronic pain write nearly half of opioid prescriptions, the CDC said. The new guidelines recommend non-opioids like acetaminophen and ibuprofen as the first line of pain treatment.