Some medical experts say that morphine is not being prescribed as often as needed by U.S. patients because the Drug Enforcement Administration is keeping too tight a lid on it, fearful that this cousin to heroin will be diverted to illicit markets.

• Few drugs work better and with fewer side effects than morphine on the chronic pain of cancer, AIDS and myriad serious medical conditions.

• The number of morphine prescriptions per capita is twice as high in the United Kingdom and four times as high in Denmark than it is in the U.S. -- clear evidence, some specialists say, that it is being withheld from ill Americans who need it.

• The DEA and state agencies keep a close eye on which doctors prescribe morphine and for what purpose -- to such an extent that such enforcement may be having a chilling effect on doctors.

• According to a 1992 University of Wisconsin report, almost half of 300 doctors surveyed underestimated the relief that pain treatment such as morphine provides to cancer patients.

In nearly every case, morphine is not addictive because it does not produce euphoria, so no craving beyond pain relief develops. A 20-year-old study revealed that only 2 patients out of 2,369 exhibited signs of psychological dependence as a result of receiving morphine and other drugs.

Those who have studied its beneficial properties say patients with pain are paying a heavy price for the DEA's over-reactive stance to the drug.

Source: Stephan Herrera, "The Morphine Myth," Forbes, May 19, 1997.