Soothe Cancer Agony Worldwide by Easing Morphine Controls

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-27/soothe-cancer-agony-worldwide-by-easing-morphine-controls.html

Based on an estimate of the morphine it would need in 2009, Burkina Faso ordered 153 grams (0.34 pound) of the drug, enough to treat the pain of eight terminal cancer patients. That year in Burkina Faso, 23,000 people died of cancer.

The situation is not much different in most of the developing world. Although morphine is cheap -- it costs as little as 30 cents a day to treat a cancer or AIDS patient -- almost 90 percent of the global supply is consumed in North America and Europe, while the entire developing world uses 6 percent. Because governments in poor countries have not made pain relief a priority, four out of five people worldwide have inadequate access to the opioids necessary to treat moderate or severe physical suffering.

The number of people who go without these medicines is growing as the global burden of cancer shifts to the developing world. Over the next 20 years, cancer deaths are expected to remain fairly stable in wealthy countries while increasing 62 percent in poor ones.
To get pain relief to those who lack it, developing countries need to increase their opioid estimates. The International Narcotics Control Board, which monitors United Nations drug control conventions, grants governments import approvals based on how much of each substance they say they’ll require. In 2009, Benin asked for only enough morphine to cover 0.5 percent of those who needed it, based on estimates by researchers using World Health Organization statistics on terminal cancer and AIDS patients. Egypt requested only 3 percent, and the Philippines, 8 percent.

[Warpy]

1. Again, this is insane. It's a PLANT. It grows in many different climates

and poppy tea or tincture is a cheap and effective way to alleviate pain. Countries need to tell the Great White Nannies to go to hell and help their people.