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SALT LAKE CITY — Police searches of Utah's prescription drug database have dropped dramatically since a state law passed this year requiring law enforcement to get a search warrant.

In the year before the law took effect this past May, there were 2,851 individual searches, an average of 238 per month. The number of total cases the past six months is 71 or 12 per month, a 95 percent decrease, according to a new legislative report.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor General also found that law enforcement's use of the database was both questionable and valuable in investigating cases. Also, some agencies appear to have used their direct access to the database more broadly than was allowed by law, the report says.

State lawmakers this year passed a bill that makes it more difficult for police to rifle through Utahns' electronic medicine cabinets. The law requires probable cause for police to get a search warrant with a specific name before accessing the information.

Police had unrestricted access to the database, which the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing maintains, before the law changed. Utah is now one of seven states to require a search warrant.

Report: 2 cases prompted changes

Two cases regarding Utah law enforcement's use of the database in the past five years appear to have propelled the warrant requirement, according to the report.

Though the information wasn't obtained illegally, the way it was used was illegal in one case, and in the other case it caused great hardship for one person, according to the legislative auditor. The report did not analyze the two cases.

Unified Fire Authority Assistant Chief Marlon Jones says an unwarranted police search of the database turned his life upside down. State prosecutors filed felony prescription fraud charges against him but dropped them 18 months later.

Jones filed a federal lawsuit against Cottonwood Heights police over the search, claiming it violated his privacy rights when they obtained his medical history. U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart dismissed the case last month, concluding the search was in response to an investigation of suspected misconduct. Jones has appealed.

Legislative auditors said police told them they don't use the database anymore because getting a warrant takes too much time and coming up with probable cause is too difficult.

An assistant attorney general who handles drug cases told auditors the warrant requirement would stop officers from investigating drug cases and, with opioid use increasing, there would be more deaths.

About the database

First created in 1995
Collects and tracks all information on prescription drugs dispensed by pharmacies in Utah
Restricted to doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement officers for the purpose of identifying patients or doctors who might be overusing, over-prescribing or abusing prescription drugs

The Utah State Medical Examiners Office, Adult Probation & Parole, Logan police, Layton police and the Davis County Attorney's Office were the most prolific users of the database before the law changed.

The auditor general recommended the Legislature consider two options: Retain the current law requiring a search warrant or allow direct police access using a reduced standard of evidence with internal approval to control and justify it.