ONCE A WAY OUT, METHADONE GROWS AS KILLER DRUG

PORTLAND, Maine - Methadone, a drug long valued for treating heroin
addiction and for soothing chronic pain, is increasingly being abused by
recreational drug users and is causing an alarming increase in overdoses
and deaths, federal and state officials say.

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. There are no national numbers available for methadone
deaths.

"Out of no place came methadone," said James McDonough, director of the
Florida Office of Drug Control. "It now is the fastest-rising killer drug."

The increase in methadone overdoses and deaths has floored many drug
experts because methadone, which does not provide a quick or potent high,
has long been considered an unlikely candidate for substance abuse. It can
be hours before a user feels any effect, and it works more like a sedative
than a stimulant.

And because methadone is considered such an important and affordable tool
for treating addiction and pain, health and law enforcement officials are
facing a quandary: how to stop methadone abuse without curtailing its
valuable uses, and especially without driving addicts back to drugs like
heroin.

"We realize that lives are being lost and we're trying to stop that," said
Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the federal Center for Substance Abuse
Treatment. "But we're trying not to do quick fixes that will cause us more
problems."