Using punctuation markers

Name:

The drug methadone is becoming ever more popular among doctors as a way of treating heroin addiction. Its use has grown considerably since 1989, but worries about it are increasing, mainly because of the growing number of people dying from it.

Methadone kills more people than heroin. There were 131 deaths from methadone in 1992, compared with 51 from heroin (1) the figures three years earlier were 35 from methadone and 36 from heroin. A handful of deaths are suicides (2) the rest are put down as accidents. Part of the problem seems to be that users do not realise that the stuff is much more toxic than heroin. A standard dose (3) 70 mg (4) will kill an adult who has not developed a tolerance for opiates (5) 10 mg will kill a baby.

Although it is highly addictive, methadone does not deliver the buzz that heroin does, so a further danger is that heroin addicts will sell their methadone to buy heroin. One of the consequences is that methadone is available to children who are experimenting with drugs. It is cheaper than heroin (6) 40 mg of methadone curretnly fetches less than £5. An equivalent dose of heroin is around £10.

The pages are based on TDF materials produced at the ELC, University of Exeter, and are copyright!

Web-design: N.G.Berger

For further information contact Val Arndt or Norbert Berger

01/19/00