COMING CLEAN ON HIS ADDICTION

Jerry Adler's piece "In the Grip of a Deeper Pain" is informative, but
is flawed by the presupposition that the risk of physical dependence
upon opioid analgesics is a worse fate than living with chronic pain.
Tens of millions of Americans would disagree. The big story is not
that some people with prior histories of substance abuse might
possibly develop problems with strong painkillers, but that so many
people who need these medications can't get them in adequate doses or
at all. The stigma our culture has given pain and the efforts to treat
it is a moral and ethical outrage. Instead of "The Scourge of
OxyContin," your cover should have read "The Scourge of Chronic Pain."
The real tragedy is not that some people abuse prescription
medication, but that so many needlessly live and die in agony.

Arthur Rosenfeld

Pompano Beach, Fla.