Pubdate: Fri, 20 May 2016 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2016 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1 Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Author: Richard E. Ralston THOUGHTFUL ANSWER TO DRUG ABUSE Re "Pain specialists are on front line in war on opioid abuse" (Viewpoints, May 18): Dr. Shalina Shah presented a very calm and sensible approach to the serious problem of the abuse of opioids and other pain killers. It is ridiculous to lay the problem at the feet of improper training of physicians. If that were the problem, we would have a much bigger problem than opioid abuse. We must expect physicians to have excellent training in all aspects of their practice. Certainly, better than government regulators of medical treatment. Richard E. Ralston, Newport Beach - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom