More Methadone Deaths Seen NationallySeptember 18, 2002
Research Summary
In Portland, Maine, and other communities nationally, officials are seeing an increase in deaths attributed to overdose of the anti-opiate medication methadone, the Portland Press Herald reported Sept. 15.So far this year, nine Portland residents have died from suspected methadone overdoses, on top of 16 such deaths in 2001. Officials in Florida and Virginia have seen similar trends: in Florida, 179 people died from methadone overdoses last year -- an 80 percent increase -- compared to 271 heroin deaths and 390 cocaine deaths.
"There's been a major movement toward abuse of prescription drugs, and methadone is seen as a painkiller just like oxycodone (OxyContin) is seen as a painkiller," said James McDonough, director of the Florida Office of Drug Control.
Rural areas, where prescription drugs are more readily available than heroin or cocaine, have been hit especially hard. In Virginia, "We saw a sudden increase in OxyContin in 1998, 1999, and 2000," said assistant chief medical examiner William Massello. "That's when we got this tremendous surge. Then right after it, methadone started picking up. Right now we're anticipating we'll see more methadone than OxyContin, significantly more."
According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, methadone incidents reported by emergency rooms nationally increased 37 percent between 2000 and 2001.
The trend has led to calls for methadone clinics to stop giving patients doses of the drug for future use in order to prevent diversion. But in Virginia, experts say the methadone is being illegally diverted from doctors prescribing the drug for pain, not from addiction clinics. Many of these doctors started prescribing methadone instead of OxyContin because of the latter drug's potential for abuse.
Both law-enforcement and addiction experts in Portland expressed support for methadone treatment despite the overdoses, saying the clinics cut crime significantly and help many people overcome their addictions.
COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE: