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Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2007;297(18):1965-1967.

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

Research on the use of opioid pain medications is beginning to provide some guidance on curbing abuse of these powerful prescription drugs while allowing patients in need to receive adequate treatment for pain.

Greater recognition of the importance of pain management has led to skyrocketing numbers of prescriptions for opioid analgesics. At the same time, abuse of these drugs has increased (Kuehn BM. JAMA. 2007;297:249-251). This pair of trends has left many physicians considering the best ways to ensure that patients get needed pain relief while preventing abuse of pain medications.

To help advance research and interdisciplinary dialogue on the interface between pain treatment and abuse of pain medications, clinicians, scientists, and other stakeholders gathered in March for a conference on this topic sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Md. Among the presentations were sessions outlining . . . [Full Text of this Article]

A STRUCTURED APPROACH