Preventing opiate abuse is a critically important challenge for physicians. In the United States, sources of opiates for adolescents are most commonly family members, not drug dealers or the Internet. Except for the terminally ill, physicians should carefully monitor opioid drug use in pts, keeping doses as low as is practical and administering them over as short a period as the level of pain requires. Pts must dispose of any remaining opiates after treatment. Physicians must be vigilant regarding their own risk for opioid abuse and dependence, never prescribing these drugs for themselves.