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Diversion and Abuse of Methadone Prescribed for Pain Management
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To the Editor: In late 2003-2004, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the General Accounting Office, and several state authorities reported that diversion and abuse of methadone was emerging as a major problem in a number of metropolitan areas across the United States.1-4 In some states, it was asserted that methadone had surpassed controlled-release oxycodone as the most widely diverted and abused drug, an assertion reinforced by newspaper accounts.1-5 This increase in reported methadone abuse was attributed to the increase in licit and illicit exposure to methadone resulting from its inappropriate use as a safer alternative to drugs with greater potential for abuse. To examine the accuracy of these reports, we quantified information from an abuse and diversion surveillance system.
Methods
Purdue Pharma LLC has created the Researched Abuse Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) system, designed to obtain information on abuse of oxycodone and other prescription opiates. . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Theodore J. Cicero, PhD
cicerot@wustl.edu
Washington University School of Medicine
St Louis, Mo
James A. Inciardi, PhD
University of Delaware
Newark
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Potential for abuse of buprenorphine in office-based treatment of opioid dependence.
Cicero and Inciardi
NEJM 2005;353:1863-1865.
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