Pure-R Methadone Can Reduce Deaths
Today, methadone is killing more Americans than heroin. In 2004, there were 3,849 reported deaths involving methadone in the United States. This astounding death toll could be significantly reduced according to Rick Sponaugle, Medical Director of Florida Detox, by using a version of the drug currently available in Germany.
The fatal and therapeutic methadone doses are almost the same for many methadone patients. In fact, methadone patients are 7 times more likely to die from a methadone overdose during the first two weeks of methadone treatment. It is during this period that their individual response to methadone is determined.
Eliminating S methadone from the mixture of R and S methadone used in the United States could reduce deadly cardiac arrhythmias and decrease the dangerous, unpredictable variations in methadone therapeutic dose between individuals. The most common route of administration at a methadone clinic is in a racemic oral solution, though in Germany, only the (R)-methadone enantiomer has traditionally been used, as it is responsible for most of the desired opioid effects.
Dr. Sponaugle, a physician Board Certified in Addiction Medicine and Anesthesiology, observed that "replacing R/S methadone with safer R methadone would reduce methadone cardiotoxicity and dangerous methadone half life variations{.}" He encourages the FDA to expedite any approvals required for R methadone to be prescribed in the United States. Dr. Sponaugle also favors measures such as requiring physicians to obtain additional training and certification before they are allowed to prescribe methadone.
