何億人もの人々が慢性的な痛みを抱えています。身体障碍者となるほどの深刻な痛みを抱える人も少なくありません。全米医学アカデミーは、慢性疼痛による直接的な医療費、そして生産性の低下で、米国だけでも年に5,600億ドルから6,350億ドルもの損失を被っていると推定しています。
高い効果を得られる鎮痛剤のひとつのモルヒネはわずか3セントの安価な薬品です。しかし、多くの国で過剰な規制がかけられていて、これを必要とする何百万人もの人々がこの薬を使用できずにいます。世界保健機関（WHO）は、100万人の末期AIDS/HIV患者に加え、550万人の末期がん患者、約100万人に上る事故や暴力の犠牲者、そして慢性疾患を抱える計り知れない数の術後患者が、モルヒネやその他の規制医薬品を使用できずに苦しんでいると指摘しています。
さらに、医師が慢性痛の対処・治療法に対する十分な知識を持っていないことで、特に女性や子ども、高齢者、貧困層が不当に影響を受けています。慢性疼痛について医学部ではほとんど教えていないといった事情や、政府機関が研究予算をほぼ計上していないといったことが背景に挙げられます。
慢性疼痛とはどのようなもので、誰が最も影響を受けるのでしょうか。西洋医学や代替療法では何が有効でしょうか。オピオイドやマリファナの利点とリスクとは。この問題を永久に解決するには何が必要か。慢性痛に悩む人だけでなく、すべての人に関わりのあるトピックを考察しています。
   

• Addresses the major health issue of pain, which claims hundreds of millions of sufferers worldwide and costs the U.S. alone $560-635 billion a year
• Explains complicated medical and health mechanisms in clear, plain language
• Argues that women, children, older populations, and the poor are disproportionately affected

 
Hundreds of millions around the world live in chronic pain - many in such severe pain they are disabled by it. The Institute of Medicine estimates that chronic pain costs the U.S. alone $560 to $635 billion a year in direct medical costs and lost productivity. Morphine, an effective painkiller, costs only three cents a dose, yet because of excessive regulation in many countries, it is unavailable to millions of people who need it, even at the end of life. The World Health Organization notes that in addition to the one million end-stage AIDS/HIV patients who can't get morphine and other controlled medications, 5.5 million terminal cancer patients, nearly a million people suffering from accidents or violence, and an incalculable number of people living with chronic illnesses and recovering from surgery can't get it, either. Women, children, older people, and the poor are disproportionally affected by inadequate pain relief. Physicians know almost nothing about chronic pain, much less how to treat it, for two reasons: medical schools barely teach it and government institutions allot almost nothing to the pain research budget.
　　　
In The Global Pain Crisis: What Everyone Needs to Know®, renowned health journalist Judy Foreman addresses the most important questions about chronic pain: what is it, who does it affect most, what works and what doesn't for pain relief in Western and alternative medicines, what are the risks and benefits for opioids and marijuana, and how can the chronic pain crisis be resolved for good?
　　　
Foreman's book is a wake-up call for a health problem that affects all people across the globe, at all stages of life. Written in the classic, easy-to-read and quick reference style of the What Everyone Needs to Know® series, The Global Pain Crisis is a must for anyone whose life or work is affected by chronic pain.