Easing the Pain

A new effort is being made in Congress to permit the use of heroin to relieve pain for terminally ill cancer patients. The legislation is, most accurately, called the Compassionate Pain Relief Act. It merits speedy approval.

In both the Senate version, introduced by Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), and the House version, introduced by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), a carefully controlled, short-term experiment is proposed. These restrictions are designed to allay fears of abuse with a drug notorious in criminal trade.

Broad bipartisan support has developed over the last two years, but the Reagan Administration and some leaders of the medical profession remain opposed on grounds that heroin is not needed and that its use would raise more problems than it would resolve. That sort of opposition ignores a growing body of literature, experimentation and actual medical practice in other nations demonstrating that heroin can be used in controlled situations without abuse and that it is essential in a significant number of cases that do not now respond to available drugs.

The testimony of families that have stood vigil at the bedsides of dying patients, in prolonged agony, gives urgency to action on this legislation. Doctor after doctor has reported the cruel reality that the pain of some terminally ill cancer patients cannot be controlled by the remedies now permitted. The effectiveness of heroin in these cases has been shown in a number of nations, including England.