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medpundit |
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Monday, February 10, 2003In most states with increased methadone deaths, the methadone being abused appears to be tablets prescribed for pain. These are sold or sometimes given to addicts by people who have stolen them from patients or, in some cases, by the patients themselves. Addicts either swallow the tablets or grind them into powder that can be inhaled or turned into liquid and injected. In Maine, however, and to a lesser degree in a few other states, the authorities say much of the methadone has been the liquid form used in drug clinics and spread, in some cases, by clinic patients. Many clinics across the country, following federal guidelines designed to make methadone treatment more accessible, have stopped requiring patients to take all their daily doses at the clinic, and instead are allowing them to take home doses of methadone once a week or more. This does seem to be a growing problem: There are no national figures for methadone deaths or overdoses. But the federal Drug Abuse Warning Network reported that in 2001, 10,725 people turned up in emergency rooms after having abused methadone. That is nearly double the number of such visits in 1999. This sort of thing, along with the rise in abuse of Oxycontin, is the natural consequence of an overly liberal approach to the treatment of chronic benign pain. Have to wonder, too, how much groups like this have contributed to the methadone problem. posted by Sydney on 2/10/2003 07:14:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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