OXYCONTIN ABUSE IS A MATTER FOR POLICE

SEVERE PAIN is a debilitating condition that can destroy the quality of
life of terminally and chronically ill Virginians. Fortunately, health-care
providers have made substantial progress in pain management in recent years
and have become more effective in recognizing and treating the pain
patients experience.

Unfortunately, your July 27 editorial ("A good first step toward curbing
OxyContin abuse") implies that Virginia physicians may have been cavalier
in their prescription of pain medication.

Virginia's hospices know that nothing could be further from the truth.
Physicians and other health-care providers are cautious and conservative
with pain medication, and their record of success with the legal use of
prescription medication supports this view.

However, the illegal use of prescription medication is a law-enforce-ment
problem, not a health-care concern.

Illegal use of OxyContin is a matter for the criminal-justice system, not
the Food and Drug Administration and health-care providers. The correct
definition of this problem will be a "good first step" toward a solution.

W.R. WATTS, Executive director

Virginia Association for Hospices

WYTHEVILLE