Pain-relief shortage in poorer countries ‘due to stigma of US opioids crisis’

Poppy plants, from which morphine is extracted. Only 17% of the drug produced worldwide for medical purposes in 2020 was used in low- and middle-income countries. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Patients suffering chronic pain are being denied treatment in low-income countries because of restrictive laws and concerns about opioid addiction, which have been fuelled by the crisis engulfing the US.

Palliative doctors, who say there is a huge unmet need for pain-relief drugs in poorer countries, have called for laws to be relaxed and for the stigma around opioids to be addressed.