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SocietyPakistan

Inside Pakistan's morphine crisis

Sara Gill in Peshawar
July 11, 2025

Cheap and effective opioid painkillers like morphine are usually not available for patients receiving cancer treatment and end-of-life care in Pakistan. Why is the medication hard to come by?

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Morphine has been considered the gold standard for opioid painkillers to relieve moderate to severe pain. DW visited a hospital in Peshawar and talked to patients and a doctor there to learn how severe the lack of morphine is.  And to understand why its access is restricted in the country, DW also visited the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).