[Pentazocine--an addiction problem? (author's transl)].

Pentazocine dependencies are rare. In a period of 5 years, 60 were notified. The majority of these were not dependent. Of 46 utilizable notifications, 38 were false, 5 had taken pentazocine only temporarily or not at all. 19 received it for chronic or recurrent pains, 13 were polytoxicomaniacs, and 1 patient could not be classified. Only 8 cases could be referred to as pentazocine-dependent. The dose for addicts and polytoxicomaniacs was 11 ampoules daily on the average, almost three times as high as that for patients with painful diseases. Pentazocine dependencies are considerably less of a problem than those of opiates used up to now: withdrawal symptoms are slight, neglect and social dangers need scarely be considered. "Users" generally only turn to pentazocine when a painful disease supervenes. Dependency practically never occurs with oral administration.