ABUSERS OF DRUG MAKE LIFE PAINFUL FOR OTHERS

I have read with great distress the articles about arrests made from
improperly prescribing Oxycontin. I am a chronic-pain patient. In 1995, I
severely injured my back to the point where I have rarely been out of bed
for the past seven years.

Without Oxycontin, the pain is unrelenting and at times horrible. The only
thing that cuts through the pain and gives me any quality of life is this
wonderful drug.

When people abuse the privilege of using legal painkillers, they involve
all of us. However, it is important to prosecute criminals and not the
drug. There are thousands of doctors who are now afraid to use Oxycontin,
and their patients suffer greatly.

Let's get serious and place the abusers of this drug, who grind it and use
it like heroin, in jail. But please don't forget the 30 million people who
suffer needlessly from chronic pain. Let's use our heads.

Jeff Clark

Carmel