Attitudes of chronic pain patients to the use of narcotics. Differences within and across sub-populations

Attitudes to the use of narcotics were surveyed from 127 chronic pain patients, five of whom had histories of narcotic or alcohol abuse. Differences within this chronic pain patient sub-sample were investigated, as well as differences across diverse sub-samples of the general public (n = 1226) and drug addicts on methadone treatment (n = 151). Similar trends were revealed for the chronic pain patients with and without histories of narcotic or alcohol abuse. At least one-quarter of these patients believed that both narcotic and anti-anxiety/sedative/sleep medications should be prescribed more freely for pain management. When comparing chronic pain patients with the other sub-samples on a variety of opinions, pain patients in general appeared to adopt a stance intermediate between drug addicts and the general public or to be more in line with attitudes endorsed by the general public.