Methadone overdose on rise

Published



Overdoses of methadone ? used as a replacement drug for opiate addicts but also an increasingly popular painkiller ? can lead to heart and breathing problems and death, the Food and Drug Administration warned this week.

Methadone can cause slow or shallow breathing and potentially deadly changes in users? heart rates. Dangerous side effects and deaths have been reported among people who use the drug as a painkiller, including Daniel Smith, the late son of Anna Nicole Smith.

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