Is there a risk for addiction with strong analgesics?
Opioid analgesics, like morphine and dihydrocodeine, have long been associated with drug addiction, junkies etc. Today they are still legally referred to as ‘narcotics’ or ‘stupefying drugs’. So, fears have for physical dependency and addiction to opioids for treatment of pain have been raised in the past. Newer observations and modern developments allow to refute this misconception. Fears were based on small series of patients, and appear to be unsubstantiated when excluding patients with a history of substance abuse. Moreover, with the discovery of long-acting opioids, a major progress was made in the treatment of chronic pain: long-acting opioids result in more stable plasma levels, thereby allowing better prevention of pain at lower plasma levels and thus carrying low risks for addiction. Opioids, however, should not be seen as a life-time sentence. The fear of becoming addicted is unnecessary in accordance with recent scientific insights. It is nevertheless recommended to graduall
