PEOPLE WHO NEED DRUGS FOR PAIN AREN'T 'ADDICTS'

About Cynthia Tucker's column Monday, "In drug war, rich avoid
becoming casualty": Addict is a "one-size-fits-all" word that
inaccurately and unfairly lumps two distinct groups of people with
disastrous results.

One group, "druggies," take anything they can get their hands on to
get high. Theirs is a "head-based" condition. The other group
comprises the millions of chronic pain sufferers who take pain
medication under doctor's care that allows them to raise and live with
their families, work at their job and take part in other activities
that they would be unable to do with debilitating pain.

The stigma attached to ill-defined "addiction" sometimes leads to
extreme actions such as denying pain medication to terminally ill
patients because they might become addicted.

We only can hope that Rush Limbaugh's rehabilitation is successful and
he can use his experience to help other pain sufferers. My fear is
that the media and politicians will turn the Limbaugh case into a
circus that could intimidate doctors into under-medicating legitimate
pain patients.

Harry Mandel

West Palm Beach