ABSTRACTAn overview of drug therapy for chronic, severe pain due to cancer is presented. Differences between acute pain and chronic pain are described and the dimensions of severe chronic pain are presented as physical, psychological, and social. The necessity to treat each dimension is addressed as is the interplay between pain perception and anxiety. The use of non‐narcotic analgesics is described in moderate, acute pain and chronic, aching pain. The effectiveness of commercially available non‐narcotic analgesics is discussed. Narcotic analgesics are usually necessary in chronic, severe pain and equianalgesic doses of available narcotics are listed. Dosing regimens for narcotic analgesics are suggested. Tolerance and dependence do not commonly develop in patients with severe, chronic pain of physical origin and who received appropriately dosed narcotics. Physiological and pharmacological reasons for this lack are discussed. Brompton's Cocktail and other narcotic analgesic combinations are discussed and are shown to be inappropriate. Appropriate adjunctive drugs to narcotic analgesics are discussed.