RECORD NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED IN METHADONE ODS, REPORT SAYS

Drug Used As Pain Reliever and to Help Addicts Off Heroin

A record number of people are dying from methadone overdoses as
doctors dispense more of the powerful painkiller, according to a
report released Wednesday by the National Drug Intelligence Center.

The Justice Department's NDIC said it produced the first
comprehensive federal analysis in response to "the alarming trend in
the number of methadone-related deaths."

Methadone has been used in the USA since the 1940s as a pain
reliever. It also is used widely to alleviate withdrawal symptoms and
block cravings in people with heroin addictions. Methadone costs less
than other opioid pain medicines, such as OxyContin, that derive from
or imitate opium.

The amount of methadone dispensed by doctors increased 715% from 2001
to 2006, the report found.

Methadone overdoses killed 3,849 people in 2004, a 390% increase over
1999, according to records from the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. A survey of more recent data from state
health departments shows the trend continued into 2006, the report
said. Teens and young adults ages 15 to 24 had the highest methadone
overdose rates.

The number of methadone deaths is smaller than those from other
narcotic painkillers, but it has risen at a higher rate than any
other opioid prescription, including morphine, OxyContin and Vicodin,
which increased 90% over the same time, the report said.

Prescription drugs have surpassed marijuana as the drug of choice for
new users, says Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

"The larger story is the widespread abuse of prescription painkillers
in America," Riley says. "The abuse and misuse of prescription drugs
is far more dangerous and far more widespread than most Americans realize."

The Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory
about methadone in November 2006 as the trends in abuse and death
emerged. Methadone metabolizes slowly and can stay in the body for
more than a day. Without careful dosing, methadone can build to toxic levels.

Some doctors in the late 1990s began turning to methadone for pain
treatment after reports of widespread addiction problems and deaths
from OxyContin, the report said.

Hospitals also are using more methadone. Manufacturers shipped 6.6
million grams of methadone to doctors, pharmacies and hospitals in
2006, up from 1.9 million in 2001, the report said.

The DEA is also confiscating more stolen and abused methadone.

The trend appeared in states with high OxyContin abuse, such as West
Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina, before spreading elsewhere.
The 10 states in 2004 with the highest percentage increase in
methadone poisoning deaths: West Virginia, Ohio, Louisiana, Kentucky,
New Hampshire, Florida, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin.