Patients in several European countries should get improved access to pain medicines following a five year study, it has been announced.
Some 12 governments have agreed to introduced recommendations aimed at ensuring patients can get opioids and morphine.
A professor at Lancaster University, UK, involved in the project, says that some countries have been reluctant to allow access to strong painkillers because of the "stigma" of street drugs.
The project, Access to Opioid Medicines in Europe, was backed by the European Union and has involved countries such as Turkey and Poland.
One country, Latvia, has already passed legislation to implement changes.
Professor Sheila Payne, from the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University, said: “People hopefully will now have more access to accessible, affordable and available opioid medicines and our report provides a template which can be used not only in Europe but in other parts of the world."
She added: "There is a stigma of drugs on the streets which is why social attitudes are a big barrier in many of these countries.
"Opioids are treated as narcotics and very strictly controlled because there is a fear that opioids will cause addiction.
"But if they are used at the end of life or if people are in great pain, addiction is not a problem. In some countries, you can only get opioids if you are in hospital, which is no good if you wish to die at home.”
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