There is a difference between addiction and physical dependence. Not every chronic pain patient becomes "addicted" to pain medications; that is a common misunderstanding and misinformation. However, a physical dependence can occur so careful management and withdrawal are important. My husband has suffered from reflex sympathetic dystrophy since 1985, and he was on oral opioid treatment for some 20 years for his neurological pain disorder and never developed an addiction at all because he was well-monitored, took the medication only as prescribed (actually less than prescribed because he was very careful about that possibility of becoming psychologically addicted), and his pain was truly a long-term chronic, neurological malady as opposed to a short-term pain issue being over-treated with overly potent opioid meds (which is where most of the addiction problems come into play)