Pubdate: Sun, 02 Mar 2008 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2008 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/ Website: http://www.sptimes.com/home.shtml Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: Lora L. Brown Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n241/a01.html CHOOSE LEGITIMATE CARE I applaud the efforts of your reporters in writing about the epidemic problem of prescription drug abuse in our fine state. I was disappointed, however, that your writers did not include enough information about "legitimate," appropriately trained pain-management physicians. No one is more acutely aware of the endemic problem of prescription drug abuse than "legitimate pain-management doctors," those who are fellowship-trained, board-certified and keep up with ongoing training annually. These doctors understand the pharmacology of opioid medications as well as the multitude of other medications used to treat pain, and the pathology of addiction. They follow nationally accepted, research-based clinical guidelines when treating patients. In order to combat prescription drug abuse, the public needs to understand how to differentiate between a legitimate pain-management physician and a pill-mill doc. A legitimate pain-management doctor understands that opioid pain medications are but one tool of many that may be used to treat chronic, unrelenting pain. They appreciate the importance of monitoring the use of these medications with things such as opioid agreements, urine drug screen monitoring and pill counting. To combat prescription drug abuse, we must make the public aware of the dangers of illegitimate doctors who call themselves pain-management doctors. Unfortunately, the board of medicine has been futile in its efforts to do the same. Lora L. Brown, M.D., president, Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, St. Petersburg - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom