The man who first proved that methadone could be used to treat opiate addiction has died, the Associated Press reported Aug. 2.

Vincent P. Dole, 93, along with colleague Marie Nyswander, conducted the pioneering research in the 1960s that led to the establishment of the methadone treatment system. Dole and Nyswander theorized that the painkiller, although highly addictive itself, satisfied the addictive urges of opiate users without debilitating them. Their research led to the use of "maintenance" doses of methadone being administered to opiate users as long-term therapy.

The work of Dole and Nyswander also helped cast addiction as a medical, not moral, problem. Still, the "harm reduction" nature of methadone treatment makes it controversial even now, with some contending that drug users should be compelled to abstain completely, not substitute one drug for another.

"I think [Dole] was sort of perplexed by [the controversy], because he saw some of the plain logic of helping people in distress," said Jules Hirsch, a longtime colleague at Rockefeller University.

Dole died of complications of a ruptured aorta. Nyswander, who became Dole's second wife, died in 1986.