Readers React: Selling painkillers on TV

This legal action by two California counties against five prescription narcotics manufacturers is long overdue. (“Counties sue narcotics makers, alleging ‘campaign of deception,’” May 21)

I have been very uncomfortable with the prescription drug ads on TV for years. Having finagled the changed 1997 U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines by supposedly presenting a “fair balance between information about effectiveness and information about risk” does not justify circumventing doctors in this fashion.

It is just wrong to advertise these dangerous drugs so ill-informed consumers can try to pressure their doctors into prescribing these medications. The average person is not equipped to make sensible decisions on these matters, and the ads are not only of no help, they make it worse.

I sincerely hope that these lawsuits will finally put an end to these distasteful ads.

Mark Temple

Huntington Beach

This lawsuit is typical of the type that grabs attention, kicks up a lot of dust and in the end accomplishes little. All it will do is make effective painkillers difficult to get for cancer and surgery patients.

Having used OxyContin for post-surgical pain, I can attest to its effectiveness without creating any sort of “high” in me. If a patient asks for narcotics to reduce discomfort, the doctor can say no.

My advice to the lawyers: sit down and think this through.

Geri Mellgren-Kerwin

Burbank