Minnesotans' methadone use carries deadly risks

Methadone, a drug available since the 1960s and deemed by the National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control as "the most effective treatment for opiate addiction," is in essence a risk-versus-reward system.

Proponents say it's better to have addicts of drugs such as heroin and Oxycontin hooked and functioning on methadone -- itself a strong, risky narcotic -- than to be breaking laws to get a fix.

But in Minnesota, and the northern tier in particular, that treatment comes at a steep cost, a News Tribune investigation, published Sept. 16, found.

Since 2001 in Minnesota, 392 people have died of methadone-involved overdoses. From 2006 to 2010, the number of deaths almost equals those who died from firearms.

In the Duluth area, at least 38 users have died from methadone overdoses since 2001.

At least 11 of those reported methadone deaths since 2001 are of people with ties to the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa near Cloquet, which helps explain why Carlton County has the highest per-capita methadone death rate in Minnesota, more than three times the state's rate.

"If this were bird flu, we'd be on the cover of Time magazine. We'd be in front of the cameras on '60 Minutes,' " Phil Norgaard, director of human services for the band, said of the deaths on the reservation. "This is a threat to public health."

As the number of deaths across the state has increased, so has the cost to taxpayers. Methadone treatment has become a thriving

And yet some of the methadone paid for by public money and used to treat patients is sold on the streets, where dealers can get hundreds of dollars a dose.

"Huge quantities of illegal methadone are being used in the communities and being used without a prescription or without medical direction," Norgaard said.

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Minnesotans' methadone use carries deadly risks