The addict in the mirror

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Time was, methadone was associated with heroin addicts trying to kick their habits. But while it still may be used for that purpose, nowadays lots of doctor-recommended pain-management regimens include prescriptions for methadone.

And the drug is killing people.

According to an eye-opening story on Monday by Standard-Examiner reporter Sam Cooper, the number of methadone prescriptions increased 727 percent between 1997 and 2004.

By 2005, Cooper reported, Utah ranked No. 2 in the nation among states with the highest methadone-related overdose deaths: 4.5 per 100,000 people.

Methadone's popular because it's inexpensive. That means insurance companies love it, since it's a lower-cost alternative to other opiods sold under brand names like Oxycontin, Loratab, Percocet and Percodan. As Cooper reported, methadone has a "variable half-life" -- meaning it may linger in the body longer for one person than the next.

That intensifies the risk of death if the patient takes a second dose of methadone before the previous one has worn off -- even if he or she is following doctor's orders -- or takes another medication that combines with the methadone to stifle breathing.

As the previous numbers cited indicate, Utah's methadone and other pain medication-related deaths are up starkly: from 39 in 1999 to 276 in 2006 -- an increase of more than 600 percent, according to Cooper's story.

While a certain number of these deaths are simple, tragic accidents by people who are not chronic prescription-drug abusers, others are a direct result of addicted Utahns who spend a lot of time doctor-shopping and/or devising other methods of obtaining over-the-counter pain meds.

And just as better patient education would help the former group, there's a system that will soon be up and running to make it more difficult for addicts to go undetected for long.

House Bill 119, which recently passed the Legislature, streamlines the communication online between doctors and pharmacies in order to detect patients who are abusing prescription painkillers. As Weber/Morgan narcotics police agent Randy Lythgoe told Cooper, instead of tracking a suspect for a year to figure out whether he's doctor shopping, if working correctly, this system will notify authorities within a week.

That means there will be less risk of overdose. People will get help into treatment a lot sooner.

And it means shutting down those who obtain the drugs in order to sell them to addicts.

We're hopeful this marks a turning point, and Utah will begin to see its numbers of prescription drug-related deaths decline for a change.

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