Awhile back, Bloomberg published a startling story that revealed the likelihood deaths by firearms in America would soon outnumber traffic fatalities. 

After doing some digging today, I figured out that Washington state has already turned that corner. In fact, it did so in 2008 (see below). Traffic fatalities numbered 454 in the state in 2011, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Deaths caused by firearms were higher, at 619 — 492 of which were suicides — according to the state’s Department of Health.

I would credit this trend in part to the state’s nation-leading seat belt use (98 percent). The average for the country is just 84 percent. As for gun deaths, I’ll leave that discussion for now but feel free to make your voice heard below.

Here are the rest of the stats for Washington:

Gun deaths                   Traffic fatalities

2006                619                                  633

2007                544                                  571

2008                583                                  521

2009                618                                   492

2010                 607                                  460

2011                 619                                  454

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Accidental prescription drug overdose deaths now outnumber those killed each year in car crashes in Washington. As states around the country grapple with the continuing epidemic of surging opiate abuse, our state has finally decided to fund a possible solution: simply track each prescription doled out.

Health care providers and pharmacies who dispense pain medications like oxycodone and hydrocodone will, starting Jan. 1, 2012, input each prescription into a secure database. As it grows, it will begin to reveal each patients’ use — and potential misuse of  the drugs, which can be so effective for pain but also addictive.

The law behind the database was passed in 2007 but its implementation wasn’t funded until now.

The providers can use the information to identify such misuse and recommend chemical dependency treatment, according to the state’s Department of Health. Another feature of the database is the ability to identify dangerous drug interactions.

“Having a patient’s prescription history gives prescribers a more complete view of patient care when they prescribe or dispense controlled substances,” Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said in a press release. “This new service is another tool for patient care and safety.”

I suppose, like any policy tool, there are pitfalls to its effectiveness. People addicted to opiates might attempt to have someone else get them the drugs, or they could attempt to use fake identification.

But ultimately, it could significantly help identify abusers of prescription drugs and has been successful elsewhere.

I’m curious if anyone will find it an intrusion of people’s privacy. The policy is a similar to a federal database that tracks customer’s purchases of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in home-cooked meth. But I’ve not heard much in the way of complaints about that database.

How do you, dear readers, believe it could change the prescription abuse landscape? And do you think it too intrusive?

The law behind the database permits heath care providers, patients, law enforcement to view prescription records. For more information from the state’s Department of Health on the program and the law, click here.

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Next time you have a cold, don’t be surprised if you get a bit of scrutiny with your Sudafed. Washington’s board of pharmacy just approved new rules that will make getting any pseudoephedrine product a little more like traveling through airport security.

The good news is that law enforcement will be alerted any time a small cache of pseudoephedrine — the key ingredient in making methamphetamine — is purchased at a local store.

But next time that pounding headache, cough and general feeling of awfulness drags you into Ride Aid or Walgreens, expect to be asked for your driver’s license or ID, which will get scanned into a database.

This concept isn’t too new for Washingtonians — one of meth’s first victims in the country — who’ve already been handing over IDs so they could be catalogued in a paper database for law enforcement to see. The difference now is the federal government’s “Combat Meth Act,” which makes the database electronic — and thus instant.

By October 15, all retailers will have to be using the system and complying with the new rules operating it.

In case you’d like more detail, here’s a press release on the topic, courtesy of the state’s Department of Health:

OLYMPIA — Making methamphetamine (meth) in Washington just got harder thanks to a new, instant, electronic reporting and monitoring system. The Washington State Board of Pharmacy adopted rules for the system that tracks purchases of over-the-counter medications used to make the drug.

Retailers and law enforcement are now learning how to use the system. On October 15, all retailers must comply with the system’s rules and law enforcement can use the information for investigations under the federal Combat Meth Act.

The tracking system, which is in use in many other states, scans photo identification as well as type and amount of product; it provides real-time information showing the cashier if the person buying the medication has exceeded the allowed quantity. Information on the purchase of medication over the legal limits goes instantly to a database available to law enforcement.

Restricting access to drugs used to make meth is a key step to ending illegal meth labs and dumpsites, and to deterring meth abuse and addiction. Controlling access to products containing pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenyloproanolamine will help stop meth makers from buying big quantities of the products while allowing legitimate access to cold, flu, and allergy products.

The state will use the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx), a no-cost system provided to states that want to replace paper sales logs with real-time electronic tracking. Pharmacies, shopkeepers, and other vendors selling these medications will enter sales transactions into the NPLEx system at the time of sale.

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