Deaths due to the misuse of the painkilling drug methadone increased 600 percent from 1999 to 2005, according to the latest statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics. Deaths from methadone overdoes increased from 786 in 1999 to 4,462 in 2005, the agency reported.
Methadone, which is mostly known as a treatment for heroin addiction, has been increasingly prescribed by doctors as a pain killer for those who suffer from chronic pain or for cancer patients.
Experts say it is the misuse of those pain pills that is responsible for the increase in fatal overdoses, not the methadone that is despensed through methadone clinics to treat addicts. The pills are being stolen while in route from the manufacture to pharmacies and are being sold on the black market by those who have a prescription.
Slow Effects Makes It Dangerous
Because methadone is cheaper than other prescribed painkillers, such as oxycodone, it is more easily diverted to the black market, authorities say.
Methadone is dangerous because of time it takes for users to feel the effects.
"It takes a while for its action to be perceived by the patient, and in this age of instant gratification — 'Hey, I still hurt' — they grab a second one or even a third one, and by the time everything kicks in, they wake up dead," Dr. Thomas Andrew, New Hampshire's medical examiner told the Associated Press.
Related Information:
Photo: DEA
In 2005 Methadone is indicated in over 4600 deaths nationwide and this number is underestimated due to an error in ICD10 coding and non uniform procedures in reporting and determining causes of death. Methadone is killing more people than any other prescription drug, killing 2 people for every 100 exposed.
Methadone is now the #2 Killer Drug in the U.S. This is a legal drug that has been thought to be safe for the past 40 years. Only recently when its use became approved for pain management patients has the cardio toxic risks emerged. Previously methadone has been used exclusively for replacement therapy for heroin patients and death was thought to be an effect of the accumulation of many years of drug abuse. With the surge in pain medication misuse and abuse more patients are being referred to methadone clinics and physicians treating pain who believe the myth that methadone is safer or non addictive because of it’s use with weaning addicts from heroin. Methadone is more addictive then any other pain medication including heroin and because of it’s extremely long half life, cardio toxic risks, numerous fatal drug interactions, dosages based on tolerance, and small margin of error. Up until Nov 2006 the government and pharmaceutical companies have been suppressing the numerous health and fatality risks related to methadone.
there are between 800,000 & 900,000 (some stats give diff numbers) heroin addicts in the U.S and 1,881 people died from heroin in the U.S. in 2004.
there are 200,000 people on methadone for drug treatment and I don’t have the number of people on it for pain but even if we double the 200,000 and assume it’s 400,000 total people on methadone there were 3,849 deaths in 2004
It looks like the “gold standard” is killing more then the drug its supposed to save people from!!!!
Every day 10.9 people die from Methadone (according to 2004 stats, not
including car accident deaths caused by drivers under the influence of Methadone)
We (the families of methadone victims) are requesting new laws surrounding who can prescribe Methadone, clinic rules and regulations as well as stiffer penalties for those caught selling their take home doses. The whole methadone maintenance system needs an overhauling. We cannot continue to allow a legal medication to be killing more people then the illegal drugs. Our government cannot be allowed to use tax dollars to fund their legal drug dealing operations.
We are asking government agencies to enact stricter guidelines in prescribing methadone for any reason. It must be mandatory that all doctors be certified and trained in the pharmacology of methadone; inpatient stays must be required during induction to methadone; all staff be extensively trained in monitoring methadone patients for symptoms of toxicity. Clinic patients should be tested weekly for legal and illegal drugs that are taken with methadone to get “ high” or experience “euphoria” such as benzodiazepines, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana etc… and face severe consequences or mandatory detoxification from the methadone program after 3 dirty urines. Selling of take home doses must result in termination from methadone program permanently throughout the U.S. When presenting inebriated at clinic, clinic should also document such activity as well as prevent client from driving. Take home doses for all patients receiving methadone should be eliminated thus preventing the risk of diversion or precautions such as pill safe should be implemented. http://www.thepillsafe.com/
Current statistics show that nearly 4000 people a year die from methadone. These deaths are mostly happening to pain management and detoxification patients’ wit hi n the first 10 days of taking initial dose. Most of these deaths are related to methadone prescribed with other medications that react as additives with the methadone. Diversion of methadone is a serious problem because it lands t hi s most deadly drug on streets. Statistics also state that methadone is contributing to more deaths nationwide then heroin and only second to cocaine deaths.
The potential of abuse, diversion, and overdose to new patients being prescribed methadone is overwhelming. The unique properties of methadone, it’s long half life, and it’s negative interaction with numerous drugs make it an optimal choice as a last result treatment for chronic pain and addiction.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely
Melissa Zuppardi
Helping America Reduce Methadone Deaths
http://www.HARMD.org
You do not have to misuse or abuse this drug to die as death can occur from a single small dose and nothing else in your system. That is one of the most known misconceptions as Methadone is a very lethal and unstable drug.
Methadone is the #1 killer of a single prescription narcotic in this country and the numbers are rising at an epidemic rate. Death comes from clinics, pain management and the diversion from both sources. Many have died while under the care and monitoring of a doctor. Although Methadone is deadly all by itself the risk increases when mixed with many other substances, even OTC products. It is nearly impossible at this time to predetermine who will survive and who will die from comsuming this drug.
Unfortunately, there has been a wide spread marketing measure to minimize it’s safety for some time. This misleading information has allowed Methadone to be very popular for doctors to prescribe in mass quantities, and becoming a front runner on our streets. Crimes that are associated with Methadone are on the rise from drug bust to death.
Clinics using this drug as a replacement for an addicts drug of choice are popping up all over this country and also do not practice what they preach as they enter communities. In most cases they are not detoxing these patrons but keep them on a highly addictive narcotic for years, many for a lifetime. These are one of the biggest medical marketing scams to ever hit this nation and it is all done legally. They hide behind the Americans with Disabilities Act and HIPPA regulations to maintain the ultimate financial investment. The addicts are happy as they still receive a very strong narcotic to feed the cravings and the owners are making millions. A large amount of this money comes from the taxpayers pockets.
Methadone may be legal but addiction is still addiction and to substitute one drug for another is not producing a “drug free” patron. Most clinics insist this drug is safe during pregnancy and breast feeding, yet babies are being born daily addicted to this legal drug. Some how society has accepted this as being OK and call it treatment.
Methadone is a Schedule II narcotic on the same level as Morphine, Dilaudid, Demerol, OxyContin, Percocet and others yet can be much more deadly in smaller doses. Thousands are dying yearly and nothing is being done by the FDA, SAMHSA, DEA and others. Methadone is a billion dollar business for the drug companies and health groups. Has greed and lack of moral values overcome a human life?
Mothers Against Medical Abuse. Org
Helping to Stop Rx, Methadone Deaths and Abuse
http://motheragainstmedicalabuse.org/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/RxMethadoneDeaths
How does someone “wake up dead”?
In a chronic pain program I’m associated with Methadone has helped a lot of people. From what I’ve read, one issue is that the therapeutic half-life is shorter than the actual half-life of the drug in the blood stream. This sometimes allows lethal levels to build up. It is certainly subject to abuse, but it has also been very helpful for some patients with chronic pain. I have seen physicians being much more careful lately, and using alternatives a lot.
curious asks how does someone wake up dead??well it happened to my daughters fiance, she found him gurguling in bed fully clothed, cell phone in hand. the front door was wide open and his dogs were inside of his pick-up, he was getting ready to leave and went back inside for god only knows, obviously didnt feel so great cuz he laid down and never got up again….autopsy showed acute drug intoxication as cause of death….methadone prescribed for a electricution accident he had suffered two years before.. he was in the prime of his life and was a wonderful caring person with everything going for him….except he lived with severve pain and mismanaged his meds…we all knew it but he was a big tough guy and now we live in sorrow to think he was snatched from earth so fast…he went to sleep and woke up in heaven
5/26/08, Memorial Day, will always be the day my worst nightmare began. My phone rang that morningand ipicked up to hear my 15-year old granddaughter screaming, “Daddy’sDead!”. I strted screaming too.My neighbor heard me, and knocked on my front door. I mght still be screaming, had she not come to see what was wrong with me. My only kid, a 38-year old man, had combined Ritalin with methadone, the evenng before; now, we will forever pay the price for this foolishness. he had detoxed from Vicodin and alcohol 5 months previous. His wife continued to abuse Vicodin, bringing the drugs into their home. Iwish I had at leaast suggested that he come stay with me until she gotclean; he might still be alive had Idone so.
Todays news is full of how methadone helps kill the Cancer cells in Leukemia. How can you say anything bad about it now,Marty?
Again,if someone is done with their meds then THROW them out. Don’t hold on to them to use at a later date. Common sense folks.
Methadone has finally started to come out of the stigma that other’s feed so readily for things they have no control when a person does not use common sense. If I take someone else’s medication and die,thats MY fault for being dumb enough to use someone else’s meds. My meds are prescribed for pain.
METHADONE IS MEDICINE
Rokki
What does Methadone have to do with Alcoholism?
Rokki
My mother and my twin sisters were killed due to methadone abuse. One sister in 2002 and the other on August 7th of this year. My mother was killed in a car wreck on July 29th of this year. She was probably spaced out and sleeping at the wheel since she had just left the clinic. I’ve never seen someone sleep standing up or leaning against something like she could. Something has got to be done about these clinics and the way they monitor their patients. After cleaning out my mothers house, I found frozen urine in the freezer for use at a later date. It would be bottled with a tin foil seal inserted into the vagina and the seal broken and out comes the clean urine. I dont care what anyone says. Its legal narcotics and its killing people. I watched my mother go from a beautiful woman to a frail old lasy with numerous health problems all due to methadone.
My 22-year-old son died from ingesting Methadone. He had also taken Xanax. Neither of these drugs were prescribed to him. I solely blame the Methadone to his death. Timmy was no stranger to Xanax, he had taken that dozens of times. His attending physician also zeroed in regarding the methadone Timmy had taken and informed me how deadly this drug is. Dr. Kirk told me that methadone can kill anyone with NO or very little tolerance to opiates (Methadone). I have posted a journal of this heartbreaking experience at my Myspace profile I have listed here. My son Timmy was hospitalized for 16 days, with severe brain damage, before he succumbed to brain death. The methadone he had taken had caused him to stop breathing in his sleep!!
you are all pathedic on here slamming methadone. any of you ever been on it? it saved my life. it’s a wonderful drug that is considered safe and effacious by the FDA. get your facts straight. i’ve been on it for yrs and never had a close call. i’ve tapered down from 140mg/day to the 55mg/day that i’m on now and i’ve never had a bad experience since I’ve been on the methadone, only MANY beforehand.
This last post from March 1st, 2009 says that methadone is an opiate. Not true, but then again, i’m sure none of you in here would know that. How much misinformation can one suck up in a days time. I’ll never visit this site again. Happy ignorance.
Unfortunately, I am only learning about this drug because of a death of someone very close to me. All that was in the toxicology report was methadone. I’m not “slamming” the drug. But people need to be educated about this drug! I have never known anyone taking it. Now I am learning about it and how dangerous it is and easy to obtain. It killed the closest friend I had in the world. He was experimenting with it, used it for pain, maybe a buzz or both. Ignorance is the problem exactly! Everyone is saying and what went down in history was a heart attack that killed my friend. It was methadone. Methadone can be used correctly and be help for some I can see, but lets be REALISTIC everyone is not reading up on what they are using recreationally. I’d never heard of how dangerous this drug is until searching for information because someone DIED! All of these stories sound like exactly what happened to my friend!
even though doctors are being more careful, how would they know until it was too late?? my brother just died from an od just 3 days ago from a take-home dose given to him by a clinic. the state should definitely make more strict laws and guidelines. he walked into the clinic on saturday and was examined by the clinic physician. i still don’t understand how she could look at him having difficulty walking, breathing, obviously swollen from the waste up and not only did she let him walk out of that clinic, she gave him a take home dose for the next day and increased the mg. how do you increase the mg on someone who can barely tell you what they’re doing there?? it doesn’t make any sense. these clinics are nothing but drug dealers with a license, and i agree that they need to be controlled. im not saying the drug is completely bad, but the fda took ephedrine off of the market because of it’s connection w/ heart disease… how many more people have to die before they see that cardiac arrest is worse than a weak heart??
The GAO report just put out April 6th 2009, states that the rise in methadone related deaths are because of the increase of methadone being prescribed by pain clinics and not MMT (Methadone Maintenence Treatment) facilities. The report also states that an increase in pharmacy thefts of methadone are up compared to no thefts of methadone stolen from addiction clinics. Then of course the MMT addiction clinics keep their methadone in a safe, unlike a locked cabinet at the pharmacy for scheduled drugs of choice.
The main reason for the deaths is from lack of knowledge on methadone by those who are taking it, and those that are prescribing it.
Methadone is a powerful drug. Those who have never ever taken it only need 10mg to feel what 4 Lortab 7.5 can do. People are use to abusing Hydrocodone by taking 4-8 of the 7.5 or 10mg tabs. This amount of methadone could kill the average person and has. Especially when taken with alcohol or benzos like zanax!!!
Methadone is the number one killer drug of Oklahoma.
People need to know what they are putting into themselves. Most addicts attending a methadone clinic that have been heroin users only start out on 30mg of methadone per day. The average abuser on the street is not use to that powerful of a drug. The street heroin has trash in it and has been cut and stepped on many times. The methadone has not. It is pure and synthetic. It does not mess around. It will kill you dead. Know what you are putting into your body and do not use any drugs without a doctors perscription and talking to your pharmacist about all drugs you know nothing about. Prove all things to yourself, this is your life, and your soul, do not trust it in anyone elses hands. They may be as clueless as the summer days are long!
The key factor behind all of these deaths is MISUSE of the drug(s). Using benzodiazepines with methadone surely can kill you. So can alcohol and methadone. So can 100’s of other drugs, if they are MISUSED and/or PRESCRIBED incorectly.
I am also wondering why people are so upset over these accidents, when almost 500,000 people, yes a half million people die because of the DEADLIST drug that is legally available. And the crazy thing is, these people that take this drug are probably posting some of the anti-methadone messages.
That drug is tobacco.
Let’s get our priorities straight people.
EDUCATION is the key. My fellow physicians need to be educated. Teachers need to be educated. Legislators need to be educated. WE ALL need to be and keep ourselves EDUCATED about the dangers in this world that surround us.
Please do not try and take away a medication, methadone HCL, that has helped save countless lives in the past 40 years, and will continue to save lives, if we all just stick together and look after each other.
Would that not be preferable to arguing in forums on the Internet and our local communities?
Why can’t we all pool our resources and come together to EDUCATE each other to SAVE LIVES.
LOVE your neighbor. Do not despise her/him because they may disagree with you.
Dr. Emmbarrased
Wow, I’m doin research to write an editorial to outlaw methadone clinics and Insite Centers that allow heroin addicts to shoot up there, this has helped a lot with my statistics and such. I’m sorry for all of your losses.
all you guys are talking about is people who are abusing it, the fat is , its there fult of abusing it , its helping people live , and little children have parents , yeah im sorry you lost your loves ones and condolances but just stop abusing it.
people are letting 80,000 people a year die from smoking and your going on about 4,000 people … go to a diffrent cause and change peoples lives, help people in haiti’s.
You americans are so ignorant!!! so scared for health care reform, yet you live in a country where doctors prescribe opites and benzos like candy…. Ever go through opite withdralwl???? It’s hell. So painful!!!! it’s no surprise most continue to use (heroin, oxy etc…) Methadon can give you your life back. It save mine. Methadone doesn’t even get you high!!!!!! The wrong dose can of course have bad results, but why are people using this drug recreationally anyhow??? Statistics are bullshit… numbers twisted and manipulated to make a ’cause’ sound more important than it really is… How many americans died last year becaus they didn’t have good enough health coverage to get proper treatment for cancer??? a lot more than a bunch of retard alcoholic, pill popping ignorant people…. shame.
Some one doesnt wake up dead, they just plain dont wake up.No goodbyes, no nothing anymore. Methadone is a very fatal drug and i think we need to get rid of it for good. I do know someone who passed away because of it but it wasnt an over dose, the doctor didnt pay enough attention and it mixed with the other meds. Its very harmful and addictive and we need to replace it with something safer, and not addictive. Hospitals eveywhere need to learn the sever consiquences of this “pain killer.” More like life taker.
Our 21 year old son was in a Fargo, ND Rehab Center for marijuana addiction. During the almost 7 weeks he was there he was introduced to Methadone. We believe another individual addicted to heroine or cocaine introduced him to it. Methadone flies under the radar at Rehab Centers it seems. Our son never woke up. He died from a combination of his prescribed Anti-Anxiety med and Methadone, which was not prescribed. His addiction was to marijuana. Methadone is a killer. The Rehab Center overlooked all signs of an overdose and our son lost his life.
I lost my 63 year old Mother to methadone, You can’t prescribe a drug to an addict to prescription drugs something this strong and get a response from the physician who prescribing so much was the problem to begin with was she knew what she was doing… well I don’t think so, she died from a lethal amount of methadone.. It should be monitered like it use to be. I also believe all of these physicians who are over prescribing have a problem also its called GREED! Don’t get me wrong there are some good Doctors , but an addict can find the licensed drug dealer, they are who I blame, not the drug.
I know a couple people seeking treatment from methadone clinics, and it’s really effective. People have an easy time to pass it off as a dangerous drug, and it is, but what people aren’t understanding is that it’s like any other serious prescribed drug, you need to be extremely careful in using it. You can die from taking too much of anything they give you these days.
However, it’s one of the more effective ways to help people withdraw from heroin and opiates [why people I know are going to the clinic is to get off their addiction to opiates]. I’m a believer for this sort of thing. They have to go see counselors and meet with doctors several times a month, and when they take their methadone, it’s under the supervision of a nursing staff, and given in a regimine where they can’t steal it. Doses can’t be taken home until they have undergone several months of treatment, and have tested clean of all other drugs/narcotics. If people were really wanting to pay attention to methadone and put the right amount of effort into it, it could really become a more stable drug that benefits people. Unfortunately, like other drugs, it gets misused, and people who decide to keep taking methadone will soemtimes decide it’s a good idea to continue taking oxycontin or heroine along with it, this is what causes deaths among users. Also, when someone is prescribed methadone pills to take home, it’s very easy for them to abuse it and end up killing themselves.
I agree strongly with Dr. Emmbarrased. And I can tell you from all the second hand experience I have of seeing how these clinics work, they do what they can to prevent people from abusing the drug.
Unfortunately they have had one death I’d heard of in the last several months [out of their hundreds of patients, maybe thousands], and that patient took several other drugs before ODing on his take home dose right after taking his dose there at the clinic. The biggest disappointment I have in the clinic though is that some people DO mistreat it and add it onto their list of drugs of choice, they will continue opiate or heroin use as well as their methadone, although methadone supresses any “high” you would get. Tons of the people there continue to test positive for drugs in their systems, and there is nothing the clinic can really do about it.
However, I really believe that if clinics were more looked after, and there was more research and time put into methadone clinics, it would definitely end up saving a lot more lives than methadone has taken from misuse. And on top of that, you have to take into account all the deaths that would have happened from illegal narcotic use that are not happening because of this drug being available to addicts.
Unfortunately there are individuals that are being medically prescribed methadone, but they are also selling it to others. It’s not as closely monitored as you think. Maybe it depends on the facility. Our son was dealing with a marijuana addiction while in rehab. Another patient in the rehab facility sold or gave him methadone. It killed him. The drug may provide beneficial results for those prescribed it, but if those that are prescribed it are taking that drug and selling it to others, we’re going to see more and more people getting hurt. I’m not sure that the benefits outweigh the risks from everything I have read on methadone. It seems to be a very controversial drug and that being said I question anyone using it, even while under a physician’s care.
Coming from one who has been addicted to prescriprion narcotics and benzos, there is only one way to get clean and stay clean, and that is through sheer willpower and determination. People always want to take the easy way out. However there is no easy way to kick an addiction. It is a painful, ugly process. I put myself through a rapid, two week detox and suffered the pain from withdrawal. I will NEVER go through that again. Using substitutes such as Methodone only replace one addiction with another. I have had a friend and family member die from methodone, and it is a painful and unnecessary situation. I am over six years clean! If you want to be clean, you are the only one who can do that, not another drug.
I in now way believe that methadone is a bad thing. It obviously has amazing benefits to those individuals who have chronic pain and who are “recovering” heroin addicts. HOWEVER the authorities need to enforce better education to the clinics and addicts that prescribe and take this highly dangerous medication.
My ex-boyfriend died in his sleep in July of 2009. In the 4.5 years we were together he was never a drug user but on occasion smoked marijuana. I believe he became depressed after our break up and reached out to others for comfort. Unfortunately his friends and family lived in another city almost 2 hours away. He started hanging out with an ex heroin addict whom he worked with. Whom I won’t name because when I think of him my blood boils! He gave my ex some of his prescribed medication and then took him out drinking. This was discovered during the police investigation. He was the last one to see him alive. He also let him drive him home around 10pm and sent him a text saying at 12am saying “sorry buddy I sure hope you made it home alright!” I was called that next evening around 11pm and informed that he did not show up for work at noon. He had been dead since 2 am that morning.
I don’t want to seem bitter but the police would rather protect a heroin addict from losing his methadone prescription than prosecute someone I believe is responsible for my love’s death. The detective protected him and in the end told me there was no more that he could do because the D.A. didn’t want to touch it. Can you believe that? At the very least this person should be put on some kind of probation that requires mandatory re-education following his carelessness involving the death of another individual.
I will never forget the terrible feeling of knowing that my love died alone. He was responsible and took this drug under his own free will but I do believe his death could have been prevented had all parties involved been a more educated. RIP A.R.C
My fiance died from methadone. He was taking it for pain management. He apparently had walking pneumonia and we didn’t know it. I woke up to him and he was blue, cold in some areas, unconscious, not breathing, foam coming out of his nose, and he was barely breathing. I freaked out and called 911. Then I proceeded to do CPR on him and hesounded like he was choking on something in his chest. I rolled him on his side and foam just poured out of his mouth and nose. I had to keep making him breath. The ambulance finally got there and thought assumed it was an overdose, so they gave him meds.The ICU suspected an overdose and wanted to keep him JUST for OBSERVATION overnight. When they got the blood tox levels back it showed that he did not overdose. We found out then that he had pneumonia and his lungs were severely compromised from that. His regular dose of Methadone caused him to overdose. Well he lived for 13 more days. He just kept going downhill from there. It hit all of us like a ton of bricks. He acquired ARDS after that, which is acute respiratory distress syndrome.We had to transport him to another hospital 13 days later because they had better treatment. He went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. The stopped off at the next hospital and he was pronounced dead. Now please tell me how you go from observation overnight to having a heart attack. He was 26 years old and had no heart problems. This was his first time taking Methadone and went into a coma after his 2nd day of taking it. He never took to much and it’s the half-life that caused him to die. The doctor prescribed him 180 methadone at 10mg per pill for one month. That means to 3 pills 3 times per day. That is WAY too much. The doctor never informed us of the severity of methadone. I only found out when I started looking it up after he died. That drug stole my whole life from me. There really does need to be more information given to patients about the VERY HORRIBLE consequences of taking methadone.
To Lance,happy ignorance to you. You are truly an ignorant ass! Methadone is most certainly an opiate. Don’t believe me? Look it up on the FDA website. You’ve been on it for years? For what? But you’re not addicted are you? You have been lucky! And until you bury a loved one because of this drug, to mock the people that have is classless! And to Dr. Embarrassed, 799 deaths in 1999 to 4600 deaths in 2005. Priorities are definitely out of whack!
I was on methadone for 14 yrs at the last 6 yrs or so on 140mg I started being disorented couldnt walk didnt know my grandkids,I was in ICU for 3 days on a breathing michine.they told me to continue with my meds and a week later Im at another hospital confussed,couldnt walk,didnt know my year or family,after MRIis and catscans and god knows what tests.they said I had spots in the white matter of my brain and probley wouldnt recover my memory.they stoped my methadone and I came home on a walker and in diapers.after 3 mos of cold turkey hell I walk now out of whell chair,I can controll my urine again and can think enough to work my laptop again and most of my memory has returned.but my migraines are back in full force now that the methadones gone.yes i miss the calm nerves and rest.now i never sleep,hurt all the time,restless legs bad,kinda ill tempered now but hay I know my daughter and grandkids. I only took my dose and no other drugs they tested me for everything.I was decreasing my dose to come down lower and all this happened they said some how it was toxic and caused the brain spots called Leukoencephalopathy. Try not to stay on it for over 5 years if u can.it did stop my hell of strong pain meds my whole life the docs gave me for vascular migarines the dem shots when i was young.i didnt take any of that again, and no more hospital visits for them.but u cant take methadone for ever,as I have learned.The clinic i went to I had to see a doc and do blood workonce a yrand phy, an urine test every mo. and go in when ever they call u any time every 3 mos.with in 24 hr of the call, to show unopened bottles are sealed and urine test.this was a chattanooga Tn clinic. Best of luck everyone.
I am also doing a paper on outlawing methadone clinics and methadone usage! 4 years ago my mother passed away due to METHADONE! Yes, it has helped SOME but the deaths outweigh!!! Methadone is just another drug!!! I wish the government would start treating it as that, because now me and my 2 younger sisters are left without our mom for the rest of our lives. She was so young, beautiful and full of life, she just got mixed up with the wrong people and became addicted to drugs, once we got a methadone clinic she started going. MOST but not all addicts dont just settle for methadone, they have to have that ultimate high and mix other drugs with methadone. Im all for removing this awful mess!!!! God Bless!
Really are there more death stories than success stories? You never hear news reports about the success stories. As a matter of fact I dont ever hear the news report about people recovering from drugs. Fact people do recover from opiate abuse, but only when its done correctly. Maybe we need some new statistics. I cant seem to find any recent stats.
U people who knock methadone freakin kill me…..don’t blame a medicine for “killing” a person…blame the person for kililng themself….if you are old enough to take medication, then you should be smart enough to take it responseably! Methadone is NOT the only medication out there that will kill you if you take it when you are not suppose to, or take MORE than you are suppose to. Stop blaming the medicine and start blaming the idiots who abuse it….ANYTHING can be abused and can be deadly in excess!
oh and btw Sally, I’m sorry but your mother was OBVIOUSLY not taking her medication as directed….and if that hadn’t killed her, then obviously, some other form of medication or drug would have, sorry, BUT IT IS THE TRUTH! And as soon as you and others stop blaming the substance for the death, and pinning it on the person who abuses the medication, the better off you’ll be. My husband has been on methadone for over two years and he takes it AS PRESCRIBED and it has done WONDERS for his soberity. NOTHING has ever worked before the methadone w/him and I am VERY thankful for that clinic and the doctors he goes to there! The ONLY ppl who die from methadone, are the ones ABUSING IT..or the ones who it does NOT belong to, to begin with!!!!
I have been on methadone for 5 years and it has saved my life i am so tired of hearing people degrading because stupid people that are not perscribed it or know anything about are taking it and dieing its not the drugs fault its the people that take it when not perscribed and for all of those of u that say nothing is being done about there is a lot being done about just because its not to your satisfaction does not mean nothing is being done.90 % of deaths on methadone are from people taking it not knowing what it is or how to take it. If you are taking methadone done prescribed its because of a chronic problem pain drug addiction,etc. Everyone is to busy blaming the drug when they should be blaming the people that are stupid enough to take a drug they know nothing about. You people look at the deaths its causes but not of how many lives have been saved and or changed because of Methadone.People really need to open there eyes and stop blaming methadone for there loses cause there nothing else to blame
If methadone was involved in the death of your loved one, please report it using link below. This is the only way we will ever get anything done. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been.
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch-online.htm
Heres a success story. When i was 17 i was horribly addicted to oxy contin and percocets. I researched the methadone program and decided that it was right for me so i gave it a try. I took it properly and done everything the right way. I never abused it and i tapered down whenever i could. I completed this program successfully with no side effects. I am as normal as I could possibly be and I will be clean 4 years this valentines day. So it is the abusers not the drug that is killing people. Methadone saved my life.