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Patients on methadone are protected against overdose even with potent illicit fentanyl
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the brown university child and adolescent psychopharmacology update
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7567
pISSN - 1527-8395
DOI - 10.1002/cpu.30353
Subject(s) - methadone , fentanyl , heroin , medicine , opioid , medical prescription , abstinence , drug overdose , anesthesia , drug , pharmacology , psychiatry , emergency medicine , poison control , receptor
Illicit fentanyl is so potent it can kill in seconds and has been blamed for the continued high rate of opioid overdose deaths, even as prescription opioids and heroin are declining as the culprits. It is so strong that some people have wondered if therapeutic doses of methadone would protect patients against the effects. Researchers in Rhode Island have found that, indeed, therapeutic doses of methadone do protect against some of these effects and, furthermore, help patients achieve abstinence from illicit opioids.