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Health reform passes hurdle in Senate
U.S. courts and tribunals have separate set of rules
Hasan to stay in confinement till court-martial
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Wall Street finds profit in the mortgage mess
Palin attracts big crowds, rekindles campaign spirit
Historic health care bill nears key Senate vote
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Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
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Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
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Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
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Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
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Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
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Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
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Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
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OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
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Four area football teams play tonight
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Headed For Disaster
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Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
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Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
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George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
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Colloquium at University of Akron
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Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Painkiller often abused, and legitimate users mistakenly mix it with sedatives
By Erik Eckholm
and Olga Pierce
New York Times
Published on Sunday, Aug 17, 2008
Methadone, once used mainly in addiction treatment centers to replace heroin, is today being given out by family doctors, osteopaths and nurse practitioners for throbbing backs, joint injuries and a host of other severe pains.
A synthetic form of opium, it is cheap and long-lasting, a powerful pain reliever that has helped millions. But because it is also abused by thrill-seekers and badly prescribed by doctors unfamiliar with its risks, methadone is now the fastest-growing cause of narcotic deaths. It is implicated in more than twice as many deaths as heroin, and is rivaling or surpassing the tolls of painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin.
''This is a wonderful medicine used appropriately, but an unforgiving medicine used inappropriately,'' said Dr. Howard A. Heit, a pain specialist at Georgetown University. ''Many legitimate patients, following the direction of the doctor, have run into trouble with methadone, including death.''
Between 1999 and 2005, deaths that had methadone listed as a contributor increased nearly fivefold, to 4,462, a number that federal statisticians say is understated because states do not always specify the drugs in overdoses.
Florida alone, which keeps detailed data, listed methadone as a cause in 785 deaths in 2007, up from 367 in 2003. In most cases it was mixed with sedatives and other drugs that increased the risks.
The rise of methadone is in part because of a major change in medical attitudes in the 1990s, as doctors accepted that debilitating pain was often undertreated. From 1998 to 2006, the number of methadone prescriptions increased by 700 percent, according to DEA figures, flooding parts of the country where it had rarely been seen.
But too few doctors, experts say, understand how slowly methadone is metabolized and how greatly patients differ in their responses. Some prescribe too much too fast, allowing methadone to build to dangerous levels; some fail to warn patients of the potential dangers of mixing methadone with alcohol or sedatives. And some patients do not follow the doctor's orders.
In what critics call a stunning oversight, the FDA-approved package insert for methadone for decades recommended starting doses for pain at up to 80 mg per day. ''This could unequivocally cause death in patients who have not recently been using narcotics,'' said Dr. Robert G. Newman, former president of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and an expert in addiction.
Methadone, which is made by Roxane Laboratories Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, and Covidien-Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals of Hazelwood, Mo., creates dependency and is sometimes sought by abusers who say they experience a special buzz when mixing it with Xanax.
While the greatest numbers of methadone-related deaths have occurred among the middle-aged, the fastest growth an elevenfold jump between 1999 and 2005, to 615 occurred among those 14 to 24, which experts say may be mainly a result of pill abuse.
Methadone, once used mainly in addiction treatment centers to replace heroin, is today being given out by family doctors, osteopaths and nurse practitioners for throbbing backs, joint injuries and a host of other severe pains.
Get the full article here.
