BC replacing methadone with stronger drug, methadose
Posted January 13, 2014 4:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – There’s a warning going out for people being treated for heroin addiction in BC.
A new medication coming in February is 10 times more powerful than the drug they’re on now.
The province is switching from methadone to methadose.
The health ministry says it’s safer and more effective, but patients will be taking far less of it than they’re used to.
Laura Shaver with Vancouver’s Area Network of Drug Users says the switch may lead to overdoses. “We’re worried if it’s in the pharmacies, it can be on the street. People may try and sell it on the street as the methadone that we take now, and of course it’s 10 times stronger so it can kill you.”
Pharmacists and doctors are now trying to educate people about the change.
