Opioid prescriptions in Hawaii are down, according to a manager

A health official in Hawaii said that the number of opioid pain relievers has been decreasing over the past four years in the state.

According to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Dr. Daniel Galanis told lawmakers last week that the average number of monthly prescriptions for opioids rose from about 69,000 in 2015 to 54,500 last year.

The epidemiologist of the state health department says that this number will likely continue to decline.

Galanis attributed this decrease in part to Hawaii's prescription drug monitoring program, a national database accessible to physicians, pharmacists and other health care providers.

He says the database has significantly reduced the number of patients who obtain prescriptions from multiple sources.

Galanis says that the state has "a tendency to level or no trend" in terms of the deadly overdose of opioids.