Methadone Statistics

Methadone is a strong opioid drug that is used in methadone maintenance programs for the treatment of heroin dependence. When used to treat opiate addiction, methadone curbs opiate withdrawal symptoms for 24 to 36 hours, and individuals who are prescribed methadone for treatment of heroin addiction take the drug once a day. Because methadone is a narcotic opioid, it may also lead to dependence and addiction. For instance, in high doses or in combination with other drugs or alcohol, methadone can produce some of the same effects of heroin and other opiates.

If individuals taking methadone develop a physical dependence to the drug and they stop taking it or decrease their dose they will begin to experience methadone withdrawal. Methadone withdrawal is far more painful and burdensome than other forms of opiate withdrawal, and can last up to 5 or 6 weeks. Past heroin users describe the horrors of heroin addiction withdrawal as being far less painful and difficult than methadone withdrawal.

Methadone statistics show the failure of these so-called methadone maintenance programs. For example, opiate-dependent patients who stayed in methadone programs show no reduction in criminal activity than that seen in patients treated without methadone.

Other worldwide methadone statistics show that there has been an explosion of deaths related to methadone. Most of these deaths have involved the diversion of methadone which was prescribed for pain, not methadone which was prescribed for the treatment of addiction. Germany for example noted that one-half of its drug-related deaths were caused in whole or in part by methadone. In England in 1996, more than twice as many people died from methadone as died from heroin.

Local and national methadone statistics show that nearly half of all overdose deaths involving methadone in Indiana and South Carolina were due to the victim's concurrent use of benzodiazepines or other sedative drugs such as alcohol. In some cases, relatives of the deceased report that many individuals who had died of a methadone overdose had consumed low doses of the drug methadone. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, medical examiners in Charleston, West Virginia listed methadone as contributing to 2,992 deaths in 2003, up from 790 in 1999. An estimated 82% of those deaths were listed as accidental, and most deaths involved combinations of methadone with other drugs (especially benzodiazepines).

Methadone statistics show that some deaths related to the use of methadone may be caused by the irregular metabolism of the drug by the patient, or a prescription that is too high of a dose of. Methadone accumulates in the tissues of the body before reaching a stable level as an user takes the drug for a period of time. This accumulation could potentially reach a toxic level if the user's metabolism of the drug is slow. In this case, an individuals who seemed fine after the first few doses could reach high levels of the drug in his body without ever taking more than was prescribed.

Other methadone statistics show that methadone may cause cardiac conduction problems, although there are few documented cases of fatalities resulting from this side-effect. It is possible that these types of outcomes may play a role in some methadone deaths more often than is recorded.