Pharmacist's attitudes towards opioid prescription

The prescription of strong opioids underlies a special legislation. The att itude of the pharmacists towards the long-term treatment with these analges ics and their opinion about the legislation is unknown in Germany and other European countries. Methods: A questionnaire was included in the Journal "Mitteilungsblatt der Apotheker-kammer Westfalen-Lippe" and send to all 2300 pharmacists of the r egion Westfalen-Lippe in December 1997. Results: 797 (35%) questionnaires were returned. In 82.4% of the pharmacies strong opioids are kept in stock. However, 140 pharmacists do not have opi oids in stock due to too many different preparations or low prescription ra te. 54% of the pharmacists warn their patients about endangering by the med ication. The fear of psychological addiction (48.1%) is the main argument,a lso in patients with regular intake of the opioids (20.1%) and related to l ong acting opioids (10.8%). Nevertheless, 73% of the pharmacists advocate f or a liberalization and 10.7% for an abolishment of the actual prescription laws. Discussion: The importance of the therapy with strong opioids is well accep ted by the pharmacists. An ease of the prescription is demanded to improve the situation of the patients with chronic pain. However, the majority of t he parmacists warns the patients about this medication. Contact between pre scribing doctors and pharmacists and an intensified education concerning th e therapy with opioids are needed in addition to the education of the medic al staff and the liberalization of the prescription laws.