FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Mark W. Parrino
February 10, 2004
212-566-5555
aatod.mail@verizon.net

Methadone Deaths Not Linked to Misuse of Methadone from Treatment Centers

The nation's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released a report that will have significant implications for the medical practice of pain management and opioid addiction treatment: "Methadone Associated Mortality: Report of a National Assessment".

The recent and dramatic increase in the number of reported methadone associated overdose deaths across the country has once again raised questions and concerns regarding the efficacy of methadone in the treatment of opioid addiction.

This report prepared by a panel of federal and state agency officials and experts in the addiction treatment field clearly documents that the overwhelming majority of the methadone attributed deaths were in fact associated with the improper use of methadone as an analgesic and distributed through pharmacies as opposed to properly medicated patients receiving comprehensive treatment services in federally licensed methadone programs

In addition, this report highlights the need to develop a uniform medical examiner/coroner case definition instrument so that more accurate and consistent determinations can be made regarding drug related mortality episodes.

The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) supports the report's findings that there is a critical need for understanding the interrelation between pain management and addiction. AATOD's President Mark W. Parrino states "The federal report clears the nation's methadone treatment programs of any significant responsibility for the reported increase in methadone associated deaths. We concur with its findings and recommendations."