OXYCONTIN IS HELPING ME

Thank you, Alan Bock, for speaking up for those of us who have been
watching our blood pressure rise with each new story about OxyContin abuse
["A drug war," Commentary, Aug. 5]. I wonder what the underlying reason is
for all the hype whenever something relatively new comes to market with the
possibility of abuse. I've been taking OxyContin for chronic pain for a few
months and it's been a lifesaver. I was beginning to go crazy from having
to wake up every night in pain and take another dose of medicine. Most pain
sufferers know that it's difficult, at best, to get proper management of
their pain.

Doctors are stingy enough with pain medicine because of perceived
addictions. If everyone, including doctors, became more educated in
addiction versus proper pain treatment we would be a much more humane
society. It's time this country got out of the Middle Ages and treated
people properly and with compassion for their suffering instead of casting
uneducated frowns upon those who are seeking proper relief of pain that no
one would tolerate for their dog.

April Obey, Huntington Beach