COMING CLEAN ON HIS ADDICTION

I was very disappointed that NEWSWEEK would reduce the complex medical
issue of prescription-drug abuse to a single tabloid headline--"The
Scourge of OxyContin." The article was relatively accurate and
balanced, but NEWSWEEK has helped to perpetuate the urban myth that
OxyContin abuse is somehow different from the abuse of dozens of other
medications, which are misused by an estimated 4 million Americans
each month. OxyContin is just one of a number of painkillers
implicated in Rush Limbaugh's unfortunate situation. Regardless, all
of these controlled substances are abused, yet your headline focuses
only on one medicine rather than acknowledge the greater medical
complexity. I think you owe an apology to the millions of patients who
suffer from debilitating pain and rely on medications like OxyContin.
They have been stigmatized enough.

Paul D. Goldenheim, M.D.

Exec. V.P.,Worldwide Research and Development/Chief Scientific
Officer, Purdue Pharma L.P.

Stamford, Conn.