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5/25/2005
Many more Utah residents are dying
from methadone overdoses -- often within a week of starting to use the
drug legally or illegally -- and state health officials are not sure
why.
The
Associated Press reported May 22 that methadone overdose deaths rose
almost 300 percent between 2000 and 2004; the drug is sometimes
prescribed as a painkiller, but is more commonly known as an opiate
substitute given to addicts in treatment programs.
State health officials say that 70 percent of the deaths occurred within
a week of patients getting a methadone prescription, changing their
prescription, reestablishing use after being off the drug for a period
of time, or first getting the drug from someone with a legal
prescription.
Methadone is dangerous because its painkilling properties fade before
its depressive effect on the respiratory system, sometimes leading
patients to overdose in search of pain relief. Also, it can take several
days before the effects of the drug are fully felt, which again can lead
people to pop more pills and possibly overdose.
Still, the rise in overdose deaths is rising faster than the
prescription rate, which is puzzling to Dr. Todd C. Grey, Utah's chief
medical examiner. "Something else is going on," he said. "The death rate
is increasing much more than the consumption rate. We don't know what
factors are driving that."
"We've been trying to sound this alarm for a number of years," added
Grey. "It is a health problem. Methadone is claiming a large number of
lives. These are middle-age people, the middle-class, working families.
It is the salt of the earth or backbone of America who are getting
killed, not the illicit weirdo drug users. These are preventable
deaths."
Source:
Join Together
Online.
Join Together is a project of the
Boston University School of Public Health |
