# Is the War On Addiction Becoming a War On Pain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-on-addiction-becoming-a-war-on-pain/946989 "2021-07-21T17:34:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 65
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-on-addiction-becoming-a-war-on-pain/946989/65 "2021-07-25T13:46:59Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > My question: Are there people after a car accident or other such thing that _actually need_ opioids to manage pain? Is this common or rare? Are they truly in pain without these medicines or are they just physically addicted to them? Here’s something @Qadgop_the_Mercotan said on the subject: > [@Vicodin addiction/withdrawal](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vicodin-addiction-withdrawal/404921/23): > > You’re right. And I have a few chronic pain patients whom I have on opiates. But it’s never the first tool in my toolbox for treating chronic non-malignant pain, even in patients with zero abuse problems. Opiates tend to work better for folks with well-defined, regionalized chronic pain problems like a radiculopathy, where a specific nerve root is damaged, and causing problems, or for the painful sequella of arachnoiditis, inflammation of the brain and spinal cord lining. Opiates tend to no… IIRC he’s also said that opiates tend to stop working on chronic pain after a while, and the patient ends up taking them just to avoid the withdrawal symptoms, but I can’t find that one. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-on-addiction-becoming-a-war-on-pain/946989)._