PAIN AND DRUG ABUSE

Re "Treating pain no longer a gamble," Dec. 5: The DEA says there are
6.2 million Americans who "abuse" prescription drugs. That appears to
be a statistic without much substance in reality. Who or what was Rush
Limbaugh "abusing" when he so famously deceived physicians into
prescribing for him the drugs he said he needed? Do he and the other
6.2 million intelligent, responsible, hard-working "abusers"
constitute a "public health problem"? If they abuse anything, it is
only their physicians, whom they "deceive" into prescribing pain
medicine the DEA knows they don't really need.While "addiction" may be
a "huge public health problem," untreated pain is a bigger private
health problem.

Some politicians and preachers never rest in their efforts to abridge
individual rights. If installing inquisitors devoted to persecuting
those who exercise such rights is not enough, they declare war on the
targeted right!

Why did no major candidate in the past election address the
persecution of physicians for sins against the DEA? Only Ralph Nader
had the courage to advocate legalizing that most benign and effective
of pain relievers, marijuana.

Philip S. Kearney, Sacramento