Methadone - Usage Trends

Usage Trends

The amount of methadone dispensed in clinics for the treatment of opiate addiction has remained stable for decades. However, between 1999 and 2002, the number of doctor-generated prescriptions for methadone increased by 331 percent, according to a report by SAMHSA. Pills and biscuits account for almost all of this increase.

Researchers at SAMHSA acknowledged several reasons for the jump in prescriptions for methadone—and a related jump in methadone deaths. First, doctors began prescribing more methadone for pain, believing that its potential for abuse is less than that of oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin). Second, some doctors began prescribing methadone to patients who are trying to recover from oxycodone or hydrocodone habits. The SAMHSA researchers also suggested that some opiate addicts do not want to be seen visiting a methadone clinic and may be turning to their personal doctors for help in kicking their habits. Getting a prescription from a doctor, and having it filled at the local pharmacy, is far more anonymous than arriving at a clinic every morning. Some communities even fight expensive legal battles to keep methadone clinics out of their neighborhoods.

Methadone on the Streets

The increase in methadone prescriptions has led to an increase of the drug being sold on the street. Seizures of illegal methadone by drug enforcement agents increased 133 percent between 2001 and 2002. Deaths associated with methadone have grown sharply since the early 1990s. SAMHSA used data to show that between 1993 and 2002, methadone-related fatalities jumped 200 percent in the state of Washington. The report declared: "While overdose mortality was declining among [clinic] patients, such fatalities were rising in the overall population." DAWN statistics are quite similar. Between 1994 and 2001, DAWN reported a 230-percent increase in the number of emergency room patients being seen for methadone related problems or multi-drug problems with methadone in their systems.

According to the "Pulse Check" report in 2004, methadone addicts tend to be "white, middle-socioeconomic males older than 35." Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas are among the states with the largest methadone problems. The availability of the drug in these states stems from patients in treatment centers who are saving their doses and selling them on the streets. "Pulse Check" authors noted that the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida, in particular, have seen a "dramatic increase in emergency department episodes and deaths involving methadone."

Increased Abuse of Painkillers

The Join Together Web site published a survey by Kentucky's Louisville Courier-Journal that found 345 fatalities in that state from methadone overdoses between January of 2003 and May of 2004. In Kentucky during that same period, methadone surpassed OxyContin as "the most misused prescription drug in the region," according to the article.

The "2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health" also determined that illegal use of methadone was on the rise among teenagers. The survey found that methadone use had increased 25 percent in just one year, part of a general increase in the abuse of prescription painkillers. Overall, methadone is becoming less associated with heroin addicts trying to go straight and more associated with the quiet epidemic of prescription painkiller use and abuse. The epidemic includes men and women of all races, ages, and economic levels.