USE OF NARCOTICS FOR PAIN RELIEF UP IN U.S.

CHICAGO - The use of narcotics for medicinal pain relief is
on the increase in the United States but the trend has not resulted in
a higher level of abuse compared to other drugs, a study published on
Tuesday found.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School said they
reached the conclusion from a review of records covering most of the
past decade from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Drug
Abuse Warning Network, which samples hospital emergency department
admissions for drug abuse.

From 1990 to 1996, there were increases in medical use of morphine
(up by 59 percent), fentanyl (1,168 percent), oxycodone (23 percent)
and hydromorphone (19 percent), the study found. During the same time
span, reports of abuse decreased for oxycodone (down by 29 percent),
fentanyl (59 percent) and hydromorphone (15 percent) and increased for
morphine (up 3 percent), according to the study.

``To maintain this trend, manufacturers, pharmacies, clinicians and
patients should continue their efforts to improve pain management
while exercising care so that the diversion of opioid medications for
nonmedical use is minimized,'' said the report published in this
week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

``Concerns related to drug abuse permeate efforts to treat pain with
opioids,'' it added. ``Patients are concerned about becoming addicted
to opioids. Health care professionals may be reluctant to prescribe,
administer, dispense or stock controlled substances for fear of
causing addiction or contributing to the drug abuse problem.''

Opioids are drugs that act similarly to opium, an addictive drug with
strong painkilling properties, but generally are not derived from it.

The authors said the study does reveal there is some abuse of opioid
pain relievers but ``compared with the abuse of other drugs, illicit
drugs in particular, the abuse of opioid analgesics appears to be
relatively low.''