Prescription of opioids for treatment of pain in patients with addictive disease.

Addiction medicine specialists and pain specialists can provide better patient care by combining their expertise when treating patients who are addicted to alcohol, street drugs, or prescription medications. Addiction specialists--particularly those whose primary treatment philosophy is drug free--must accept that controlled opiate maintenance is appropriate for some patients, and pain specialists need to increase their sensitivity to the possibility of addiction among their patients. Both pain and addiction are treatable conditions, and optimal care of some patients requires the coordinated services of both an addiction medicine specialist and a pain specialist.