DON'T DISPENSE DRUG TO GENERAL PUBLIC

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

OxyContin is a medicine that is needed to manage pain. We have had morphine
and synthetic morphine available for many years.

They are prescribed and administered by professionals, in controlled and
supervised environments. Thanks to devoted home agencies, people in severe
pain can have pain medicines administered by professionals. OxyContin does
not have to be prescribed to the general public to be effective in pain
management programs. I know the effects of OxyContin on families and
children; it is criminal and disgusting. The local police and our community
are at a loss. OxyContin has turned this beautiful mountain community into
a living nightmare - parents lie awake at night, waiting for "the call";
grandparents take care of infants and toddlers abandoned because of
OxyContin. Why debate the issue?

Simply make this "wonder" drug available for pain management - administered
only by professionals who have been properly trained in giving meds. It is
unwise to offer this type of drug to the general public at all. I challenge
anyone to give me one good example where OxyContin is needed without
professionally trained personnel administering the drug.

Gina Jessee
Cleveland