The prescription-to-addiction pathway is an unforced error. If someone is prescribed opiates for long term pain the risk of addiction is serious. If 5% of pati

The prescription-to-addiction pathway is an unforced error. If someone is prescribed opiates for long term pain the risk of addiction is serious. If 5% of patients had strokes, doctors would cut down prescriptions to immediately life threatening use only. I don't know what duration/dose gets you to 5%, but I suspect whatever it is you will find those are not as uncommon as they should be. To generalize, doctors misunderstand and underestimate addiction in a lot of way. Maybe treating addiction is not their domain but this is a violation of their basic creed. Palliative care. Post trauma emergency care. Short term post op recovery. These are reasonable uses of opiates. An open ended prescription for chronic back pain is dangerous.