Opioid dependence and addiction during opioid treatment of chronic pain.

Throughout the long history of opioid drug use by humans, it has been known that opioids are powerful analgesics, but they can cause addiction. It has also been observed, and is now substantiated by multiple reports and studies, that during opioid treatment of severe and short-term pain, addiction arises only rarely. However, when opioids are extended to patients with chronic pain, and therapeutic opioid use is not confined to patients with severe and short-lived pain, compulsive opioid seeking and addiction arising directly from opioid treatment of pain become more visible.