Although opioid consumption increased in Argentina during the 1990s, opioids generally remain available but inaccessible within palliative care. From 1991-2 morphine prices doubled.⁵

Between 1994 and 1998 the consumption of codeine rose from 141 kilos to 373 kilos; pethidine consumption rose from 32 to 39 kilos (though only 4 kilos were consumed in 1997), and morphine consumption rose from 41 kilos to 504 kilos.

In the same period, the average number of defined daily doses⁶ of morphine consumed in Argentina was 725; this compares with 117 in Chile; 61 in Uruguay; and 3 in Ecuador (Graph 1).⁷

Graph 1
Average daily consumption of defined daily doses (DDD) of morphine per million inhabitants: countries of South America 1994-1998

Source: International Narcotics Control Board (2000) Narcotic Drugs: Estimated World Requirements for 2000. Statistics for 1998. New York: United Nations.