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# Prescription Painkiller Overdoses
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/prescription_painkiller_overdoses_803120541/
- Published: 2012-08-03T18:41:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T18:41:06.000Z
- Description: Prescription painkillers killed more than 15,500 people in 2009, and CDC says methadone drove much of the rise: it figured in more than 30 percent of those deaths while accounting for just 2 percent of painkiller prescriptions, six times the methadone overdoses of a decade earlier.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Drug, Health News, #vivvo-import

### From CDC

### Use and Abuse of Methadone as a Painkiller

Prescription painkiller overdoses\* were responsible for more than 15,500 deaths in 2009\. While all prescription painkillers have contributed to an increase in overdose deaths over the last decade, methadone has played a central role in the epidemic. More than 30% of prescription painkiller deaths involve methadone, even though only 2% of painkiller prescriptions are for this drug. Six times as many people died of methadone overdoses in 2009 than a decade before.

Methadone has been used safely and effectively to treat drug addiction for decades. It has been prescribed increasingly as a painkiller because it is a generic drug that can provide long-lasting pain relief. But as methadone’s use for pain has increased, so has nonmedical use of the drug and the number of overdoses.

\* "Prescription painkiller overdoses" refers to deaths from using harmful amounts of opioid or narcotic pain relievers, including drugs such as Vicodin (hydrocodone), OxyContin (oxycodone), Opana (oxymorphone), and methadone.

  
### Problem

#### Methadone use poses risks

**Methadone is frequently prescribed for pain.**

- Methadone, like other painkillers, is commonly prescribed for chronic problems like back pain even though it might not help these problems in the long run.
- More than 4 million methadone prescriptions were written for pain in 2009, despite US Food and Drug Administration warnings about the risks associated with methadone.
- Methadone is available as a low-cost generic drug. It is often listed as a preferred drug by insurance companies.

**Methadone's risks include:**

- The difference between appropriate prescribed doses and dangerous doses of methadone is small.
- Methadone has special risks as a painkiller. For example, taking it more than 3 times a day can cause the drug to build up in a person’s body, leading to dangerously slowed breathing.
- Methadone can seriously disrupt the heart’s rhythm.
- Methadone can be particularly risky when used with tranquilizers or other prescription painkillers.
- In one study, four in ten overdose deaths involving single prescription painkillers involved methadone, twice as many as any other prescription painkiller.

[Back to Top](http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/MethadoneOverdoses/index.html?ref=foodconsumer.org#top)

### Who's At Risk?

[Back to Top](http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/MethadoneOverdoses/index.html?ref=foodconsumer.org#top)

### What Can Be Done

#### The US government is:

- Enforcing federal laws to prevent nonmedical use of methadone.
- Educating health care providers and consumers about the correct use of methadone.
- Tracking prescription drug overdose trends and the impact of efforts to stop overdoses.

#### States can:

- Develop and promote the use of safe prescribing guidelines for methadone.
- Support the use of methadone as a treatment for opioid dependence in opioid treatment programs.
- Use prescription drug monitoring programs to identify patients who are using methadone or other prescription painkillers for nonmedical purposes.

#### Health care providers can:

- Follow guidelines for prescribing methadone and other prescription painkillers correctly, including  
  - Screening and monitoring for substance abuse and mental health problems.
  - Prescribing only the quantity needed based on the expected length of pain.
  - Using prescription drug monitoring programs to identify patients who are misusing or abusing methadone or other prescription painkillers.
  - Monitor patients on high doses for heart rhythm problems.
  - Educating patients on how to safely use, store, and dispose of methadone and how to prevent and recognize overdoses.

#### Health insurers can:

- Evaluate methadone’s place on preferred drug lists.
- Consider strategies to ensure that pain treatment with any dose higher than 30 mg of methadone a day (the recommended maximum daily starting dose) is appropriate.

#### Individuals can:

- Use methadone only as directed by a health care provider.
- Make sure they are the only ones to use their methadone and never sell or share it with others.
- Store methadone in a secure place and dispose of it properly. See[www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Poisoning/preventiontips.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Poisoning/preventiontips.htm?ref=foodconsumer.org) for correct storage and disposal of medications.
- Get help for substance abuse problems (1-800-662-HELP or[www.samhsa.gov/treatment/](http://www.samhsa.gov/treatment/?ref=foodconsumer.org)[](http://www.cdc.gov/Other/disclaimer.html?ref=foodconsumer.org)).