Methadone is a long-acting opioid medication that is used as a pain reliever and, together with counselling and other psychosocial services, is used to treat individuals addicted to heroin and certain prescription drugs. Methadone is regulated as a controlled substance, under federal and state laws and regulations, when used for pain management and addiction treatment. Although information on methadone-associated overdose is limited, available data suggest that methadone's growing use for pain management has made more of the drug available, thus contributing to the rise in methadone-associated overdose deaths. This book examines the regulation of methadone, factors that have contributed to the increase in methadone-associated overdose deaths, and steps taken to prevent such deaths from occurring. This book also identifies selected efforts to prevent methadone abuse and overdose deaths that focused on education, safety and monitoring. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access. |