Pubdate: Tue, 20 Sep 2011
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Gerry Bellett

' WAR ON DRUGS' BLOCKS MEDICAL ACCESS TO MORPHINE

Patients Suffering From Terminal Illnesses in Some Countries Denied 
Pain Killer, Ubc Graduate School of Journalism Study Finds

A study by University of B. C. journalism students says the global 
war on illicit drugs is preventing patients suffering terminal 
illnesses in some countries from having sufficient access to morphine 
to control their pain.

The year-long study done by the UBC Graduate School of Journalism 
involved teams travelling to India, Ukraine and Uganda to see how 
those countries manage pain.

The results of The Pain Project can be found at 
www.internationalreporting.org/pain.

The report was released in advance of a United Nations conference in 
New York this week on the global challenges of treating cancer and 
other diseases.

Prof. Peter Klein, UBC'S acting graduate school director, said that 
unlike many global health problems, pain treatment is not about money 
or lack of drugs, as morphine costs pennies per dose and is easy to 
manufacture.

He said bureaucratic hurdles and the chilling effect of the war on 
drugs were the main obstacles to morphine access in some countries.

" The story of global morphine shortages is one of those issues that 
both the media and the medical community have overlooked," said Klein.

He said he became interested in pursuing the story after talking with 
a member of Doctors Without Borders, who found a lack of morphine in 
a number of countries he visited. " For instance, in India, which is 
the largest supplier of medical morphine in the world, it's virtually 
unavailable in most parts of the country except for one state [ 
Kerala]," said Klein.

Klein said some countries, such as India, had over-reacted to UN 
regulations regarding access to opiates - an unintended result of the 
war on drugs.

Uganda was chosen an example of a Third World success story on how 
the issue could be overcome, while Ukraine was a case study in the 
problems caused by too much bureaucracy in cancer care.

The website offers videos from each country showing how patients 
there struggle with pain.

One shows a former Ukrainian KGB officer dying of prostate cancer who 
sleeps with a gun under his pillow " in case the pain becomes 
unbearable," while another shows an Indian doctor frustrated with 
drug laws who mixes readily available analgesics to ease the pain of 
his cancer patients.

A third shows a Ugandan nurse who led a movement to reform that 
country's drug laws affecting morphine distribution and palliative care.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom