Narcotic addiction in patients with chronic pain.

The notes of 717 patients attending the Regional Pain Relief Unit, Abingdon, were reviewed. One hundred and thirty patients (18%) were taking narcotic analgesics. Of these, 74 were suffering from cancer and 56 (9.7%) had chronic benign pain. Nine patients were considered to be addicted to their analgesics. Nine men and five women were able to discontinue their narcotic analgesics as a result of therapy. All of these patients had been receiving oral agents for more than one year.