Compared with other European countries, French laws and restrictions c
oncerning the use of opioids are of medium severity only. Still, toget
her with Germany, Belgium and Spain, France belongs to the group of co
untries with a low national consumption of morphine, calculated by the
International Narcotics Control Board of United Nations. In order to
elucidate the current practice of French physicians treating cancer pa
in, a questionnaire study was carried out, using the nationwide regist
er of general practitioners and specialists of a pharmaceutical compan
y. The knowledge of the principles and methods of cancer pain treatmen
t were evaluated with 9 open and 19 multiple-choice questions. The abi
lity of the physicians to apply their knowledge in practice was evalua
ted by analyzing their suggested treatment of 3 illustrative case hist
ories. The favourite drugs in treating cancer pain were strong opioid
agonists, suggested by 25% of the general practitioners and 44% of the
specialists for a typical cancer pain patient. The recommended daily
doses of opioids were mostly far below the level generally accepted in
palliative care. The drug of choice for metastatic bone pain was a co
mbination of paracetamol and codeine, chosen by a third of the general
practitioners. Consequently, only 10% and 21% of the treatment sugges
tions were regarded as adequate. Ninety-two percent of the physicians
experienced difficulties in the treatment of cancer pain, inefficacy o
f treatment being the most important problem.