Methadone Withdrawal

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Four Yale Medical School professors say they have found a drug that eliminates withdrawal pains suffered by heroin and methadone addicts.

The professors, whose work was described in the Journal of the American Medical Association last week, said that clonadine hydrochloride, a drug commonly used to relieve high blood pressure, eliminates almost all withdrawal symptoms.

Methadone addicts who use clonadine have twice the chance of kicking the habit as other patients, Richard Klebar, one of the professors, said recently.

However, the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association said, "The doctors have limited evidence. The principle value for such an article is to have other investigators use it and see whether the drug will be borne out as effective."