Pain from cancer is said to be poorly relieved. To examine the relevance of this statement in our hospital we registered morphine consumption used for cancer pain relief from 1983 to 1990. The use of morphine increased 20-fold during this period, corresponding to a 12-fold increase per patient. A probable explanation of this development is that cancer pain now receives more attention and use of morphine has become more acceptable. New methods such as subcutaneous continuous morphine administration from portable pumps, and the introduction of slow-release morphine, have improved and simplified the treatment. Probably several Norwegian hospitals still lag behind in this respect. Consequently much pain remains unrelieved. We suggest that hospitals evaluate their pain relief programmes. If these are found inadequate, the service should be reinforced. This would probably lead to earlier rehabilitation and improved quality of life for the patient.