Monday, October 17, 2005
All quotes and data taken from Palm Beach Post (Florida), Oct. 2, 2005, p. 1A
“METHADONE-RELATED DEATHS” is apparently a major – and still growing – problem about which much seems to be known but very little is reported. Case in point: Florida, where 4 years ago the “Department of Law Enforcement began analyzing methadone related deaths”. This county leads the state in “methadone-related deaths,” with 168 so far in 2005. In other counties methadone-related deaths have dropped, but Statewide there are said to have been 849 deaths in 2004 “linked to methadone.”
State government studies and those of academic agencies such as the William R. Maples Center for Forensic Medicine at the U of Florida, directed by Dr. Bruce Goldberger (oft-quoted in the media) surely have loads of data on these deaths – and it must be presumed the most basic information is routinely determined and analyzed: what form was the methadone (“pills, wafers, vials that can be injected and syrups that are taken orally”); evidence of ingestion versus injection; did deceased have a record of known or alleged illicit drug use, or record of recent treatment with methadone (for pain or opiate dependence management); tabulation of concurrent drugs that may have contributed to or caused death; etc.
If these basic facts are not being determined, it would be inexplicable and unconscionable. If – as seems very likely – they are known, but not publicized in the lay and professional media that too would be difficult to comprehend. Without credible empirical data – for the most part, quite easily obtainable and probably already in hand – promising approaches to lessen the number of lost lives will never be identified or implemented. Meanwhile, it’s likely the decades-old bias against methadone maintenance treatment of dependence will be reinforced in the minds of the public at large.