OVERDOSE DEATHS RISING IN STATE

Numbers Have Doubled in Last 8 Years

DOVER - A methadone-related death is raising concern about a methadone
clinic opening in Somersworth.

During the weekend, a 29-year-old Dover man died of an overdose of
methadone, a drug used as a painkiller and to treat heroin addicts.

The overdose, police said, involved the drug in pill or wafer form. The
Community Substance Abuse Center, which is opening the Somersworth clinic,
says it requires patients to take their methadone as a liquid with
professionals watching.

Dr. Thomas Andrew, the state's chief medical examiner, says drug overdoses,
including those involving methadone, have nearly doubled in the state in
recent years.

"We've seen a dramatic uptick of methadone related deaths over the last
three or four years," he said.

But he said the increase is not because of methadone clinics. The problem
comes from addicts with false pain complaints to get pills or wafers from
their physicians, Andrew said.

New Hampshire's overdose deaths from all kinds of drugs stood at 39 in
1995. There were 37 deaths in 1996; 53 in 1997; 49 in 1998; 40 in 1999; 48
in 2000; 60 in 2001; and 80 deaths in 2002.

"In a small state, that's a huge percentage leap," Andrew said.

Heroin was responsible for about 25 percent of these deaths. More than half
of last year's overdose deaths involved other opiates, primarily methadone
and oxycodone, the main ingredient in pain killers such as OxyContin.

Andrew said he has never seen a methadone overdose linked to a clinic in
New Hampshire and he remains a proponent of using the drug to treat heroin
addicts.

Robert Potter, director of development the clinic moving into Somersworth,
said the clinics are expanding along with the influx of cheaper heroin
supplies.

"It's rampant. I've been in this business 25 years and I've never seen
heroin addiction on the scale of this today," Potter said.

Potter said officials have nothing to fear from the new methadone treatment
center, scheduled to open soon in an existing medical office building on
Route 108.

"We're committed to running a very professional operation, so Somersworth
will really see us as an asset," he said.

Community Substance Abuse Centers opened New Hampshire's first methadone
clinic three years ago in Hudson. A competing clinic has since opened in
Manchester, making Somersworth the third methadone clinic in the state.