"The big picture is that the 2006 increase has not continued. That's a relief," said Fichtenberg.
Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein said he plans to focus on the kinds of drug treatment the victims received before they died. With this information, officials hope to find ways to improve treatment and reduce overdose risk. "We're trying to get a much better understanding of overdose deaths," he said. "We're looking to understand as many factors as possible."
Sharfstein and others noted that methadone deaths rose for the eighth straight year, to 74, the highest level ever.
"The methadone deaths remain really striking," said Latimer. He said the methadone deaths were in part an indication of the city's "massive" heroin problem.
Methadone deaths are rising nationally, in part because more and more treatment programs are offering the drug, and in part because doctors increasingly prescribe the drug as a pain reliever. Methadone, an opioid, can help heroin addicts kick their habit. It reduces the craving for heroin, and gives users a smaller high. But despite its relative safety, the drug poses risks.
There was one overdose death in Baltimore last year associated with buprenorphine, an addiction treatment drug that has gained popularity as a safer alternative to methadone. Some critics have warned that buprenorphine may itself pose serious overdose risks. In Baltimore, many fewer addicts are treated with buprenorphine -- 300 in city treatment programs, compared with 3,900 treated with methadone.
Sharfstein called buprenorphine a "very promising strategy."
"It is an effective treatment for heroin addiction, that is much less likely to cause overdose than either heroin or methadone," he said.
david.kohn@baltsun.com
