Methadone deaths seen leveling off

Overdose deaths from powerful painkillers have been surging at an alarming rate in the United States, but here's a sliver of good news: The number blamed on methadone appears to have peaked.

Still, methadone accounts for nearly one-third of prescription painkiller deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported Tuesday.

Methadone, known mainly for treating heroin addiction, is also prescribed for pain. Health officials say most of the overdose deaths are people who take it for pain -- not heroin or drug addicts.

After a sharp rise, the number and rate of methadone-related overdose deaths have fallen since 2007, the CDC report shows. Health officials describe the recent trend as closer to a leveling off than a reversal. But they also acknowledged it is a bit of good news in what has been a deteriorating situation.

"There aren't a lot of problems that have gotten so much worse so quickly as prescription drug overdose has," said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden. Overall, overdose deaths from painkillers have increased by about four times over a decade, he said, involving methadone, Vicodin, OxyContin and Opana.

Methadone accounted for just 2 percent of painkiller prescriptions in 2009 but more than 30 percent of overdose deaths, according to the CDC.

The drug has been used to wean heroin users off of their addiction. But about 15 years ago, doctors started prescribing methadone more often for pain, as an alternative to OxyContin, a narcotic increasingly tied to abuse and death. Methadone seemed like a safer alternative, said Dr. Len Paulozzi, the CDC study's lead author.

Despite all the warnings, the CDC researchers say too many prescriptions are still being written for pain, many by internists and family doctors, not pain specialists. -- AP