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

Palliative doctors call for relaxation of laws to redress huge unmet need for drugs among majority of world's population

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.