METHADONE FATAL OVERDOSES, SALES QUADRUPLE

NEW YORK - Methadone is known as a drug to help heroin addicts, but
recently it's found a new use - as a painkiller.

Experts say the number of fatal overdoses of people taking methadone
has nearly quadrupled in recent years and they blame its use as a
painkiller. In the 1990s an increasing number of doctors began
prescribing it as an inexpensive alternative to painkilling drugs
like OxyContin.

Government regulators say they're aware of the increase and are
developing a strategy to deal with it, said Robert Lubran, director
of the division of pharmacologic therapies at the U.S. Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

"I think that physicians who are prescribing methadone for analgesia
may not be as completely aware of some of the properties of methadone
that create a potential for harm," Lubran said.

His tips? The drug, he noted, shouldn't be mixed with several other
medications. It also has a slower onset than some other painkillers
and stays in the body for longer periods.

Overdoses are associated with decreases in heart rate and blood
pressure, coma and death.