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Dan Murphy, MD
Cedar Falls, Iowa

JAMA. 1996;275(17):1311.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—In my work as a medical director of a methadone clinic I see how the city streets are flooded with pharmaceutical opiates. Addicts use them in times when heroin is scarce and may begin their addiction taking pharmaceuticals for one reason or another. Physicians, it goes without saying, are easily inveigled.

It is a gross oversimplification for physicians to think only as Dr Hill¹ would advise, when patients demand adequate pain treatment for any and all types of pain. It is extremely difficult to decide exactly when and what amount of opiates should be used in each individual case, and even then appropriate caution must be exercised to minimize the disastrous results that can come with diversion and misuse of these medications. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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