MORE DEATHS IN THIS AREA FROM PAINKILLER

DAYTONA BEACH -- Searching for a better high, Paul almost became a drug
overdose statistic -- and part of a national trend.

A combination of drugs proved nearly fatal for the 26-year-old DeLand man.
But he began the day with methadone, which he had been taking to treat his
addiction to pain pills and heroin.

"I wasn't suicidal," Paul said on the last day of his 90-day treatment
period at the Stewart-Marchman Center. "My body just wanted to get higher."

Adding pain medication and tranquilizers to methadone landed Paul in the
hospital. He asked that his last name be withheld out of fear of hindering
his chances of getting jobs or credit.

An increase in methadone overdoses prompted the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement to issue a public alert late last year. In 2001, the federal
Drug Abuse Warning Network said 10,725 people turned up in emergency rooms
after abusing methadone. That's nearly double the number of such visits in
1999.

In Florida, methadone-related deaths jumped from 209 in 2000 to 357 in 2001
to 254 in just the first six months of 2002, the latest period for which
data are available.

"We had a 71 percent increase in methadone-related deaths from 2000 to
2001," said Bruce Goldberger of the University of Florida College of
Medicine. "Now methadone is associated with more deaths than heroin."

Methadone, marketed under the names Dolophine and Methadose, is frequently
prescribed for pain and as a treatment for addiction. But because of misuse,
it has joined cocaine and popular prescription painkillers as a leading
overdose killer in Volusia and Flagler counties.

Of Volusia County's 59 drug-related deaths between January and June 2002,
six people died of lethal doses of methadone -- up from two the year before,
according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Another nine of the
dead had methadone in their blood. Most overdose deaths result from a
combination of drugs.

According the FDLE study, 20 people who died of overdoses in Volusia County
between January and June 2002 had cocaine in their systems. Hydrocodone, an
active ingredient in prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and Lortab,
was found in 13. Oxycodone, the active ingredient in the prescription
painkiller OxyContin, was present in six of the dead. Heroin was found in
two.

During 2002, there were five drug overdose deaths in Flagler County -- two
involving methadone -- according to county records.

Medical professionals say methadone, a synthetic painkiller developed during
World War II, still is widely used and very effective for its original
purpose.

Jim Shepherd, pharmacy manager at Halifax Medical Center, describes
methadone as a useful drug for patients with severe pain. "It lasts longer
than most other opioids and therefore doesn't have to be taken as often," he
said, referring to medications that relieve pain in the same manner as
opium-based drugs.

But drug treatment counselors say methadone is being prescribed more to
treat addictions, particularly among recreational users of OxyContin.

"There's a real fear of OxyContin," said Les Roberts, senior regional
director of Colonial Management, which manages a methadone treatment center
on International Speedway Boulevard.

At the Daytona Beach methadone treatment center, 336 patients take methadone
regularly to treat heroin addiction, Roberts said.

A habitual drug user will suffer flu-like sickness and other withdrawal
symptoms if he doesn't take a substance that satisfies his addiction.
Methadone often is dispensed to addicts to allow them to cope without buying
illegal drugs. But critics say the treatment just substitutes one addiction
for another.

"You will get just as addicted to methadone," Dr. Douglas Davies of the
Stewart-Marchman Center said.

When the drug becomes the base for an addict who is seeking a higher high,
the results can be deadly. Paul said many junkies know how to mix methadone
with other prescription drugs to intensify the high and make it resemble the
feeling they get from heroin.

"I started to see it more about a year ago," he said.

The growing concern about methadone deaths has changed how the drug is
handled in the drug treatment community. Additional precautions are being
taken to avoid abuse, Roberts said.

While there has been no connection between overdose deaths and methadone
maintenance treatment programs here, Roberts of Colonial Management said the
center has a strict policy prohibiting patients from taking methadone out of
the center without approval.

Patients are expected to consume their daily dosage at the clinic, under the
watchful eyes of clinic staff. But there is no way to prevent those patients
from leaving the clinic and taking additional drugs.

Dr. Ernest Cantley, president of the Stewart-Marchman Center, said some drug
users are apparently not aware that methadone is especially dangerous when
mixed with other depressants.

"If you mix two depressants, you can really get dangerous," Cantley said.
"Most often, deaths are from combining alcohol with depressants."

Paul has known people who died of drug overdoses while taking methadone. But
he was one of the lucky ones, saved by medical science and given another
chance at life. Now he runs, exercises, and is making plans to go to
college.

For him, the overdose was a wakeup call. "Now I'm back," he said.