Will BC's new methadone kill people? Its about to get ten times stronger - but will patients & drug users find out? Methadone – a highly regulated narcotic prescribed to treat opiate addiction - is about to get ten times stronger in BC. Taking too much of the medication can cause overdose and even death. Most methadone patients have no idea this change is coming.On Feb 1, 2014, pharmacies and clinics in BC will begin dispensing a new product called Methadose, which will replace the methadone they used to compound themselves. Methadose is manufactured by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceutical, and comes in a red, cherry-flavoured liquid. The old methadone was dispensed at a concentration of 1mg/ml in a Tang-like juice. The new Methadose will be ten times more concentrated at 10mg/ml.I interview Laura Shaver, president of the BC Association of People on Methadone (BCAPOM) who is worried people will die. She has been petitioning authorities to get the word to methadone patients - a group that can be hard to reach.I also talk to Aiyanas Ormond of the Vancouver AreaNetwork of Drug Users. He is troubled: “Methadone patients, more than any other large patient group…have very little voice in how the program works and how the rules are going to be set.”Ormond said that patients must “actually have some power over the decisions” and that he’s seen “lots of supposedly benevolent improvements in treatments that…ended up marginalizing people further.”Laura and BC Association of People on Methadone made posters and alerted people on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. On the eve of the changeover, she remains concerned that not everyone will know, and that people will die.