Pubdate: Sun, 26 Mar 2006
Source: Burlington Times-News (NC)
Copyright: 2006 The Times-News Publishing Company
Contact: http://www.thetimesnews.com/letter_to_editor/splash.php
Website: http://www.thetimesnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1822
Author:  Kadi Hodges
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

CHEAP PAINKILLER IS RAVAGING LIVES

Things weren't going well for Jonathan King last October. Years
before, to pay for school and to follow his patriotic resolve, he
volunteered for the National Guard.

But he never expected to see action. Soon after his second son was
born, he was called up for active duty. He wasn't crazy about being
gone, but he went. King was deployed to Iraq for 13 months.

He returned home with post-traumatic stress syndrome, which is common
among soldiers who have been to battle. The Veterans Administration
says the syndrome is characterized by flashbacks to war, trouble
sleeping, and feeling detached or estranged. It's often accompanied
by depression, substance abuse, and strained relationships.
For a year, King juggled the emotional and physical strain of the
disorder, school work, two young children and a dissolving marriage.
His sister, Sheila King, says he didn't talk much about his problems
except to say he felt like he was going crazy. Even when he was at
his lowest points, he kept to himself.

"He didn't have it easy," said his sister. Doctors at the Veterans
Administration hospital prescribed an antidepressant for him.

Close to his 24th birthday, King was about to graduate from Alamance
Community College with a business degree and was planning to enroll at
UNCG. He and his wife had separated.

His wife, Heather, saw him around noon on Oct. 28. Twenty-four hours
later, she called 911 when she found him dead in his bed at his home
on Markwood Lane in Bellemont.

A toxicology report completed this month shows that King died from a
methadone overdose.

BETWEEN 1980 AND 1998, there were fewer than 10 methadone overdoses
per year in North Carolina. In 1999, the number rose to 29. Then the
number of methadone overdoses jumped annually, to a peak in 2003, when
247 North Carolinians died using methadone.

The month before King's death, a 30-year-old Mebane father also died
from methadone poisoning. Anthony Kevin Raines was found dead at his
home on Lebanon Road. The methadone concentration in his blood was
twice as high as King's.

On Sept. 5, 2002, a 34-yearold Graham woman, Cynthia Anne Squires,
died from a methadone overdose. Her husband, Raymond Squires, was
convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving her the pills that
killed her. He was sentenced to three years of probation. Times-News
archives show that nobody in Alamance County was charged with offenses
involving methadone before 1996, but methadonerelated offenses have
been common since then. Last year, three people were charged with
either possessing or selling methadone. On Friday, Burlington police
charged a Guilford County man with possessing methadone. Ruth
Winecker, chief toxicologist for the Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner, said the drug has gained popularity in recent years for
legitimate ailments, and the increase in prescriptions coincides with
an increase of dangerous uses.

"It is a drug that helps an awful lot of people," Winecker said, "and
if it's used responsibly and prescribed responsibly, then it's a
useful drug."

If it's not used responsibly, it's easy to accidentally overdose on
methadone. Although it was once prescribed primarily to people coming
down from heroin addiction, methadone is now also popularly used to
treat chronic pain and some problems associated with diabetes.
Methadone is available at regular pharmacies in liquid, powder, and
tablet forms.

One nonprofit agency in Burlington, Alcohol and Drug Services,
distributes methadone to recovering addicts, as do two treatment
centers in Greensboro.

Winecker described that part of the popularity of methadone is that
the drug is cheap.

"It costs pennies to the dollar versus Oxycodone." Methadone
effectively treats chronic pain, and a single dose lasts longer than
most other painkillers.

As the number of methadone pills in circulation has increased, so has
the number of people using the drug to try to get high. People who are
prescribed the drug may take too much, or they may share or sell their
prescription.

Methadone can cause euphoria, but it brings a smaller buzz than other
narcotics like Oxycodone.

"Typically a small dose does not make the person euphoric," said
Winecker, "and then they take more."

By the time someone has taken enough methadone to cause euphoria, the
drug can depress the respiratory system enough to be deadly.
"Unfortunately, with methadone, that margin of safety is very narrow,"
Winecker said.

First-time and inexperienced users are particularly susceptible to
overdosing on methadone.

THE AMOUNT OF methadone in Jonathan King's blood indicates he took
more than one dose, although Winecker said it's impossible to tell
whether he took multiple doses at one time or whether he took multiple
doses over time and the drug built up in his system. Investigators
found liquid methadone in King's room. Alamance County Sheriff 's
Department spokesman Randy Jones said that in the past few years, his
agency has been called to investigate multiple people who have had
dangerous reactions to methadone. It's not clear whether those people
had been prescribed the drug. Even for people using methadone
legitimately, it's easy to overdose in the first two weeks of use.

His autopsy report says King may have gotten the methadone from a
girlfriend who isn't named in the report.

Jones said that although no charges have been filed in King's death,
investigators have submitted information to the district attorney to
determine whether prosecution is warranted.

Sheila King says she sometimes finds her 4-year-old nephew talking to
the stars and saying he's talking to his daddy.

"We know something's missing, and he knows there's something missing."
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MAP posted-by: Tom