Troubles underlie drugstore murders

Regarding "Doctors push for tighter Rx rules" [News, June 28]: Several years ago, after hearing from numerous acquaintances that they had a friend or relative who had become inadvertently addicted to painkillers, I Googled Vicodin and oxycodone. I learned their highly addictive qualities were similar to heroin and they were approved as last-resort pain relief for end-stage cancer patients.

Shortly thereafter, I crushed my fingers in my garage door and spent five hours waiting in the emergency room, in which time I witnessed every person who was treated, regardless of the severity of their injury, given a prescription for Vicodin, including me. I refused it.

These drugs are essentially legalized heroin, being prescribed indiscriminately by physicians, without any regard for the consequences.

April Hughes Kaufman, Centerport
 

I am outraged that there has been no mention of how the Suffolk County Police Department obviously brutalized David Laffer during his arrest ["Arrest in massacre," News, June 23]. Yes, obviously what he is accused of doing was wrong and I am not condoning an alleged murderer's actions at all. But the fact of the matter is that he is, apparently, a very sick individual who needs help.

Kimberly Belkin, Nesconset
 

Regarding "Schumer: Shootings stress need for law" [News, June 27]: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) claims that "the abuse of prescription drugs isn't as deeply entrenched yet, but it's growing as quickly as crack did."

While I applaud the senator for finally addressing this issue, I am saddened that Schumer, in true political style, waited until after the tragic and senseless killing of four innocent people to offer up some kind of potential legislative action to combat the prescription opiate epidemic.

I would also argue that Schumer's uneven comparison to the crack epidemic of the 1980s is flawed. The difference is that politicians can't single out and demonize minority communities as the source of distribution and related crimes. In this case, the point of origin of the drugs are big manufacturers and the medical community.

The same goes for the users. With crack, the politicians had an easy target: poor, uneducated, minority users. With prescription opiates, the users are from every neighborhood and walk of life -- from white- and blue-collar workers to PTA and soccer moms, professionals and laborers.

It's good that our senator means to do something about it. But this tragedy might have been prevented if our lawmakers hadn't been ignoring this pervasive epidemic for the last eight to 10 years.

Zeke Zuclich, East Islip