Pubdate: Fri, 19 Dec 2003
Source: Kamloops This Week (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Kamloops This Week
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1271
Author: Danna Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

METHADONE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE

If Kevin Mortimer, 33, hadn't been loaded with prescription medication he 
may not have died, according to provincial toxicologist Stuart Huckin.

Huckin testified during the last day of a three-day coroner's inquest into 
the circumstances surrounding Mortimer's death while in RCMP lock-up July 
6, 2002.

Following the inquest, jurors recommended no methadone patient should be 
given an extra pill prior to a daily dose, regardless of the hours of 
operation of the pharmacy.

Huckin acknowledged the 100 milligrams of cocaine Mortimer had likely 
injected several hours prior to his death was not enough to kill him.

By all accounts, Mortimer had died from an overdose of prescribed opiates, 
he said.

Mortimer had started on a methadone program to ease his heroin addiction 
just days before his death .

Initially, Mortimer had been started on a prescription of 45 milligrams of 
methadone daily, but had his prescription increased to 65 mg.

When involved in a methadone program, a patient is given a single pill each 
day by a pharmacist and is required to take the pill immediately.

When Mortimer went to have his prescription filled on a Saturday he was 
given an extra pill, his Sunday dose, as the pharmacy would not be open.

Instead of waiting until Sunday, however, Mortimer took an extra 25 mg of 
methadone on Saturday. Mixing that extra dose with oxycodone, a drug 
prescribed to Mortimer for pain and also an opiate, is likely what killed 
him, Huckin said.

Injecting cocaine, which is a stimulant, on top of methadone and oxycodone, 
which are depressants, may have led observers to believe Mortimer was fine.

"At some point in the day he's going to appear normal," Huckin said, adding 
the two drugs would at some point "balance off."

Opiates slow breathing, he said, and in all likelihood Mortimer died in his 
sleep as a result of a lack of oxygen to the brain or heart.

Other recommendations delivered by the jury include a mandatory completed 
urine analysis for methadone users upon check-in at an emergency room 
before they are released to the streets or jail.

Jurors also recommended funding for halfway or safe houses for methadone 
clients as well as funding for methadone related programs.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman