The paper includes information on legislation that was pending at the time the paper was written, and a comparison of heroin's analgesic qualities to those of then-available and equivalent pharmaceutical alternatives. The principal argument in favor of the use of heroin as an analgesic is that it is more potent and therefore can be administered in smaller doses than most other narcotic analgesics, including morphine. However, once in the bloodstream, heroin is rapidly converted to morphine and acts as morphine does in pain control. Arguments against changing Federal law to permit the use of heroin to control pain include: (1) the US is party to international agreements restricting the use of heroin; (2) the action of morphine in larger doses is generally equivalent to that of heroin; (3) its medical use would require careful surveillance in hospital lockup cabinets; and (4) other more potent and safer drugs are available. In summary, while few would disagree that heroin has pain relieving ability, others might argue that it no longer rivals more modern methods of pain management. Footnotes