FROM STAFF REPORTS
JAMES PAYNE
LLANO — Authorities have launched an investigation into the suspected methadone overdoses of four people who investigators believe obtained the drug from a Kingsland man with a prescription for it.
Emergency medical service crews treated and transported four people — a mother, her adult son and adult daughter as well as a fourth man — on or about Oct. 4-5 to an Austin hospital by helicopter and Llano Memorial Hospital by ambulance, Llano County Sheriff Bill Blackburn said.
“They had used the methadone. More than likely, they probably never used methadone before,” Blackburn said. “They’re all OK now.”
Methadone is a prescription drug typically used to combat addictions such as heroin but can be abused as well, research shows.
On the night of the methadone overdose investigation, authorities arrested 42-year-old James Payne and charged him with public intoxication.
“Once we found out who it was, everyone was looking for him to get him off the streets,” Blackburn said. “He was too intoxicated to admit anything that night. … He could have been on methadone. He was taken into custody in the early morning hours of Sunday morning.”
No charges were filed in connection with the prescription for methadone that authorities retrieved from Payne.
“This was his prescription,” Blackburn said. “It’s going to be investigated, and further charges are possible,” he said.
editor@thepicayune.com
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