STUDY FINDS NUMBER OF ACCIDENTAL OVERDOSES DOUBLED IN FIVE YEARS

Accidental drug overdose deaths in North Carolina more than doubled during
the past five years, according to a recent study.

The study found that 394 people died of unintentional drug overdoses in
2001, up from 187 in 1997. A total of 1,325 people died of accidental
overdoses during the course of the study.

Kay Sanford, a state Health and Human Services epidemiologist who prepared
the report, said the reasons for the increase aren't clear, but added that
many of them suffered from health problems.

Half of them had a history of substance abuse, while 20 percent had
problems that ranged from mental illness and chronic pain to alcohol abuse.

Deaths among whites increased from 116 in 1997 to 263 in 2001. Men
accounted for 198 of the accidental drug deaths.

Among women, accidental overdoses rose to 118, from 38 over the same period.

Medical coding experts and medical examiners looked at information culled
from death certificates for their data.

The biggest percentage increase was seen in methadone overdoses.

Methadone is usually prescribed as a substitute for people addicted to
heroin. Deaths attributed to the drug rose from seven in 1997 to 58 in
2001, a 729 percent increase.

Deaths from other prescription narcotics increased from 32 to 128.

Health and Human Services Director Carmen Hooker Odom has appointed a task
force of health, law enforcement and substance abuse experts to study the
problem.

"We must act quickly to reverse this trend," she said.