Tim Simmons
Ever since the United States government passed laws governing the prescription of opioid drugs early in the 20th century, doctors and regulators have been engaged in a balancing act, trying to use the drugs to treat pain appropriately while preventing their abuse.
But growing use of opiate medications by patients with chronic, non-terminal pain – which carries a small, but real, risk of addiction – has made achieving balance even more difficult. A climb in prescription drug abuse has paralleled the rise in legitimate use, and law enforcement and regulatory crackdown efforts have made many physicians afraid to prescribe pain medication to patients who really need it.
"The person who suffers the worst is the patient," says Howard Heit, a physician and chronic pain specialist, certified in addiction medicine and practicing in Virginia.
Heit and others in the pain treatment field say the relationship between law enforcement and ...
