Trying to script a solution

From left: Dr. Mel Pohl, the addiction specialist, notes that opiates treat not only pain but anxiety, providing an inducement for patients to continue using them. Leo Basch, a pharmacist and member of the Nevada Pharmacy Board, says culture changed in America in the 1990s when drug companies began advertising. Matt Alberto, the deputy chief of investigations at the Nevada Public Safety Department, says narcotics are being used in epidemic proportions. Dr. Michael McKenna, the Las Vegas pain specialist, says "the economics of medicine" sometimes factors into decisions doctors make about painkillers. Photo by: Steve Marcus