Topic:

Sunday Conversations

Photo by Steve Marcus / Las Vegas Sun

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.

All stories

Signs are dim, but is Vegas’ future?

Sun, Aug 3, 2008

By Sam Skolnik

For those of us who thought we lived in Boomtown U.S.A., the dramatic downshift in the economy has been unsettling at the least, jarring for many. On Friday, Boyd Gaming ...

Trying to script a solution

Sun, Jul 13, 2008

By Marshall Allen

Sunday Conversation: Experts blame Nevada’s skyrocketing rate of prescription narcotic use on hurried doctors who don’t adequately examine the patient’s history and source of pain, leading to inadequate treatment and ...

For the long term, there’s optimism about sports arena

Sun, Jun 22, 2008

By Ron Kantowski, Joe Schoenmann

Last summer, two groups were rushing to be first to build a Las Vegas arena.

Their plans to cope with budget squeeze

Sun, May 25, 2008

By David McGrath Schwartz

What’s worse than knowing that the party is over? Waking up with a hangover when you didn’t even go to no stinkin’ party. That’s how Nevada legislators feel these days. ...

A coal-fired discussion

Sun, May 4, 2008

By Phoebe Sweet

Proposals to build coal-fired power plants have brought the debate over global climate change home to Nevadans. Coal provides half the nation’s electricity, and a fifth of Nevada’s power, but ...

Voices of reason for health care crisis

Sun, Mar 16, 2008

By David McGrath Schwartz

In the midst of the largest hepatitis C scare in the nation’s history, many Nevadans have lost confidence in their health care providers. About 40,000 people have been told they ...

Lead us out of this mess

Sun, Jan 13, 2008

Las Vegas Sun

Four former Nevada governors came together last week at the Sun’s invitation to reflect on Nevada’s future and offer advice to the state’s citizens and elected officials. To a man, ...

Getting past the crises

Sun, Dec 16, 2007

The stresses facing the state are obvious to anyone who relies on public services. Public schools are chronically crowded and Nevada's universities struggle to achieve academic greatness. Highways are congested ...

Brass tacks: Looking for someone to tax

Sun, Oct 14, 2007

By David McGrath Schwartz

Teachers want to raise the gaming tax by 3 percentage points, triggering a fight that could change the way public services are funded.