METHADONE DEATHS IN WESTERN VA. OCCUR AT TWICE THE RATE OF NEW YORK CITY

ROANOKE, Va. -- There were 85 deaths from methadone overdoses in
western Virginia last year--a per-capita rate that is at least twice
the rate for New York City, according to state crime lab figures.

Deaths from the prescription drug, developed during World War II as an
alternative to morphine, have increased by 600 percent in the region
in the past five years.

Fatal overdoses from other prescription drugs have also risen sharply,
said Dr. William Massello of the state Medical Examiner's Office for
Western Virginia.

Last year, there were 213 drug deaths in the western half of the
state.

"My God, that's three-and-a-half times what we used to have just eight
years ago," Massello said.

Fatal overdoses were up last year in four categories of opium-based
prescription drugs. In addition to the methadone deaths, 47 involved
hydrocodone, 44 ocycodone and 21 fentanyl.

Of all the drugs abused in the Roanoke Valley, methadone is perhaps
the most controversial.

A proposed methadone clinic in Northwest Roanoke has generated
widespread opposition from residents who fear it will bring crime to
their neighborhood. A similar proposal in Southwest Roanoke County was
withdrawn in the face of ardent community resistance.

Opponents worry that methadone will be sold on the street. However,
police and medical examiners say virtually all of the methadone
overdoses involved the pill or wafer form of the drug, which is
prescribed by doctors as a painkiller, and not the liquid form, which
is dispensed by the clinics.

As fatal overdoses from prescription drugs have risen sharply in
western Virginia, so has the amount of painkillers prescribed by the
region's doctors.

From 1998 to 2002, when methadone deaths went from six to 62, the
volume of the drug prescribed increased by 500 percent, according to
Drug Enforcement Administration figures. The figure does not include
the liquid form of the drug.

Oxycodone prescriptions for the region increased by about 210 percent from
1998 to 2000. Prescriptions of hydrocodone increased by 107 percent over
five years.