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OVERDOSE DEATHS RISING IN STATE
Numbers Have Doubled in Last 8 Years in New Hampshire
DOVER, NEW HAMSHIRE - A methadone-related death is raising concern about a methadone clinic opening in Somersworth, New Hampshire.
During the weekend, a 29-year-old Dover, New Hampshire man died of an overdose of methadone, a drug used as a painkiller and to treat heroin addicts.
The overdose, New Hampshire police said, involved the drug in pill or wafer form. The Community Substance Abuse Center, which is opening the Somersworth, New Hampshire clinic, says it requires patients to take their methadone as a liquid with professionals watching.
Dr. Thomas Andrew, the New Hampshire chief medical examiner, says drug overdoses, including those involving methadone, have nearly doubled New Hampshire state in recent years.
"We've seen a dramatic uptick of methadone related deaths over the last three or four years," he said.
But he said the increase is not because of methadone clinics in New Hampshire. The problem comes from addicts with false pain complaints to get pills or wafers from their physicians, Andrew said.
New Hampshire overdose deaths are from all kinds of drugs stood at 39 in 1995. There were 37 deaths in 1996; 53 in 1997; 49 in 1998; 40 in 1999; 48 in 2000; 60 in 2001; and 80 deaths in 2002.
"In a small state like New Hampshire, that's a huge percentage leap," Andrew said.
Heroin was responsible for about 25 percent of these deaths in New Hampshire. More than half of last year's overdose deaths involved other opiates, primarily methadone and oxycodone, the main ingredient in pain killers such as OxyContin.
Andrew said he has never seen a methadone overdose linked to a clinic in New Hampshire and he remains a proponent of using the drug to treat heroin addicts.
Robert Potter, director of development the clinic moving into Somersworth, said the clinics are expanding along with the influx of cheaper heroin supplies.
"It's rampant. I've been in this business 25 years and I've never seen heroin addiction on the scale of this today," Potter said.
Potter said New Hampshire officials have nothing to fear from the new methadone treatment center, scheduled to open soon in an existing medical office building on Route 108.
"We're committed to running a very professional operation, so Somersworth will really see us as an asset," he said.
Community Substance Abuse Centers opened the first New Hampshire methadone clinic three years ago in Hudson, New Hampshire . A competing clinic has since opened in Manchester, New Hampshire making Somersworth the third methadone clinic in New Hampshire.
Numbers Have Doubled in Last 8 Years in New Hampshire
DOVER, NEW HAMSHIRE - A methadone-related death is raising concern about a methadone clinic opening in Somersworth, New Hampshire.
During the weekend, a 29-year-old Dover, New Hampshire man died of an overdose of methadone, a drug used as a painkiller and to treat heroin addicts.
The overdose, New Hampshire police said, involved the drug in pill or wafer form. The Community Substance Abuse Center, which is opening the Somersworth, New Hampshire clinic, says it requires patients to take their methadone as a liquid with professionals watching.
Dr. Thomas Andrew, the New Hampshire chief medical examiner, says drug overdoses, including those involving methadone, have nearly doubled New Hampshire state in recent years.
"We've seen a dramatic uptick of methadone related deaths over the last three or four years," he said.
But he said the increase is not because of methadone clinics in New Hampshire. The problem comes from addicts with false pain complaints to get pills or wafers from their physicians, Andrew said.
New Hampshire overdose deaths are from all kinds of drugs stood at 39 in 1995. There were 37 deaths in 1996; 53 in 1997; 49 in 1998; 40 in 1999; 48 in 2000; 60 in 2001; and 80 deaths in 2002.
"In a small state like New Hampshire, that's a huge percentage leap," Andrew said.
Heroin was responsible for about 25 percent of these deaths in New Hampshire. More than half of last year's overdose deaths involved other opiates, primarily methadone and oxycodone, the main ingredient in pain killers such as OxyContin.
Andrew said he has never seen a methadone overdose linked to a clinic in New Hampshire and he remains a proponent of using the drug to treat heroin addicts.
Robert Potter, director of development the clinic moving into Somersworth, said the clinics are expanding along with the influx of cheaper heroin supplies.
"It's rampant. I've been in this business 25 years and I've never seen heroin addiction on the scale of this today," Potter said.
Potter said New Hampshire officials have nothing to fear from the new methadone treatment center, scheduled to open soon in an existing medical office building on Route 108.
"We're committed to running a very professional operation, so Somersworth will really see us as an asset," he said.
Community Substance Abuse Centers opened the first New Hampshire methadone clinic three years ago in Hudson, New Hampshire . A competing clinic has since opened in Manchester, New Hampshire making Somersworth the third methadone clinic in New Hampshire.
