Over at the ASI Aeon McNulty has a piece about the discovery of a pain reliever much more powerful than the opiates.

The hope is that the new molecule will lead to a range of natural
pain-killers which have the positive effects of morphine without its
addictive and psychological effects.

That’s all very well but it does depend rather on what theory of addiction you subscribe to. Myself, I tend to (not exclusively mind, but certainly a large part of it) the idea that it is the pain relief itself that people become addicted to. Nothing specific to morphine (or heroin, or endorphins themselves) but to the psychological addiction of the taking away of the cares of the world.

If that is the cause of addiction (or of some addictions) then we’ll never be able to have pain relief without the possibility of addiction.