The recent spotlight on Anna Nicole Smith has shed light on this growing problem:
A synthetic opiate, methadone is similar to heroin in chemistry, curbing a user’s craving for the illegal opiate by blocking the sensors that heroin stimulates without producing a heroin high.In recent years, methadone has proved lethal to a growing number of patients or addicts who use it in conjunction with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax or, in the case of addicts, illegal narcotics such as cocaine.
Related posts:
- Is a cocaine abuse vaccine coming soon?
- The new king of drug abuse
- Meet Anna Nicole Smith’s doctor
- Sound the alarm: Hand sanitizer abuse is on the rise
- Prescription drug abuse
- Should internet addiction be a mental disorder?
- "Survivor" doctor busted for drugs
KevinMD.com on Facebook
{ 2 comments }
And don’t forget the other killer, fentanyl. The same people who use/abuse methadone, most likely use fentanyl, either in the lollipop or the transdermal patch. All these narcotics are dangerous (methadone, Xanax, Vicodin, fentanyl)especially when mixed. I had read that Actiq (fentanyl lollipop) was also found in her hotel room. These pops are deadly, and risky for children who think its candy. And I know (before someone tells me how great they are when used correctly)they all have their place in medicine, but somehow, there’s too many people dying from these drugs.
It really gets my goat to see people getting their opiates prescribed in pain management clinics, then presenting to hospitals to get detoxed on Medicaid’s tab, then back to the pain management clinic which was never even contacted by the hosptital that made a substance abuse diagnosis and detoxed the patient. Some people cycle through this ridiculous merry-go-round several times a year! Anyone who says there isn’t waste in healthcare and a lot of it doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Comments on this entry are closed.