What does methadone look like? What does methadone look like?

What is methadone? What is methadone? Who abuses methadone? Who abuses methadone?

What are the risks? What are the risks?

How is methadone used? How is methadone used?

What is methadone?What does methadone look like?How is methadone used?

Methadone is a synthetic (manmade) narcotic. It is used legally to

treat addiction to narcotics and torelieve severe pain, often in individuals who have cancer or terminalillnesses. Although methadone hasbeen legally available in the UnitedStates since 1947, more recently ithas emerged as a drug of abuse. Thistrend may be driven in part by theready availability of the drug as itincreasingly is used in the treatmentof narcotic addiction and to relievechronic pain.

Methadone is available as a tablet,

oral solution, or injectable liquid.

Some methadone tablets are

designed to be swallowed intact, whileothers are intended to be dissolved firstin liquid. Likewise, methadone is available either as a ready-to-drink solutionor as a concentrate, which must bemixed first with water or fruit juice.Methadone also is available as a liquidthat is administered via injection.

When used to treat narcotic addiction, methadone suppresses withdrawal

symptoms for 24 to 36 hours. Individuals who are prescribed methadone fortreatment of heroin addiction experience neither the cravings for heroin northe euphoric rush that are typicallyassociated with use of that drug.

Who abuses methadone?What are the risks?

It is difficult to gauge the extent of

methadone abuse in the United Statesbecause most data sources that quantify drug abuse combine methadonewith other narcotics. This lack of statistical information renders it impossibleto describe a typical methadone abuser.Information provided by the TreatmentEpisode Data Set does reveal that thenumber of individuals who were treatedfor abuse of “other opiates” (a categorythat includes methadone) increaseddramatically from 28,235 in 2000 to36,265 in 2001. These individuals werepredominantly Caucasian; they werenearly evenly split between males andfemales and represented various agegroups.

Methadone abuse among high school

students is a concern. Nearly 1 percentof high school seniors in the UnitedStates abused the drug at least oncein their lifetime, according to theUniversity of Michigan’s Monitoringthe Future Survey.

Individuals who abuse methadone

risk becoming tolerant of and physicallydependent on the drug. When theseindividuals stop using the drug theymay experience withdrawal symptomsincluding muscle tremors, nausea,diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominalcramps.

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Is abusing methadone illegal? Is abusing methadone illegal?

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Is abusing methadone illegal?

Yes, abusing methadone is

illegal. Methadone is a Schedule IIsubstance under the ControlledSubstances Act. Schedule II drugs,which include cocaine and methamphetamine, have a high potential for abuse. Abuse of these drugsmay lead to severe psychological orphysical dependence.

Cover photo: DEA

Methadone HCl 40 mg.

NDIC Product No. 2003-L0559-021

Nat

090203

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