  University of Wisconsin-Whitewater epidemiologist David
Nordstrom reviewed nearly 5,000 deaths that were certified as
drug-related between 1999 and 2008. Most were accidental
overdoses or suicides and the majority involved male victims
with an average age of about 43.  Nordstrom found a shift in
which deaths related to legal prescription drugs surpassed those
involving illegal narcotics. He said deaths from the synthetic
drug methadone, which is used to treat heroin addiction,
skyrocketed from 10 in 1999 to 118 in 2008.  Nordstrom told
Wisconsin Public Radio News that a prescription-drug monitoring
program, which keeps people from getting pain pills from
multiple pharmacies could help stem the rise in opioid abuse.