Methadone, more known for helping individuals addicted to heroin with withdrawal symptoms, began being prescribed by the Oregon Health Plan to treat general pain in the 1990s. As a result, use of the drug has jumped significantly.

In southern Oregon, for example, use of methadone has grown three-fold during the past three years. Medical officials fear that the drug is increasingly being misused.

"Folks are feeling better after they take one," said Tim Pike, a Jackson County sheriff's detective and a deputy medical examiner. "And they think, 'If one made me feel better, two or three will make me feel even better.' For people who are not used to it, a couple could be lethal."

Prescribing methadone to control pain is popular because it doesn't produce a euphoric feeling like morphine and other opiates. Dr. Robert Trujillo, an anesthesiologist who oversees the pain clinic at Providence Medford Medical Center, said doctors are stuck in the middle. Although the state monitors how many opiates doctors prescribe, the Oregon Health Plan encourages them to treat chronic pain aggressively.

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