Long term opioid addiction has long term rebound effects. Severe anxiety is a long term post withdrawal effect that many people experience. Good idea to get into cognitive/behavioral treatment to learn to reduce and manage this. Too many former addicts end up relying on, and sometimes abusing benzos as a result, or end up 'going back out' because, for good reason, doctors won't prescribe benzos long term. And abrupt benzo withdrawal for people who take high doses, prescribed or otherwise, can be lethal, unlike opioid withdrawal.

A word here though, re addiction. There is a difference between physical dependence and addiction. There are many medications and substances, not just medications with potential for addiction, on which people can develop a physical dependence, meaning abrupt cessation vs tapering of dose will lead to withdrawal symptoms. In addiction, the person also has a psychological craving for the drug and will seek higher and higher doses to get the psychological effect of the drug. For long time addicts or alcoholics, it may eventually not be about feeling high, but just feeling 'normal.'

There is no doubt there is an epidemic of opioid addiction going on, and heroin has made a big comeback as the street supply of prescription opioids has been further reduced by state and federal policies. Because the addiction has for a number of years now also spread into the middle socioeconomic class, it is getting a lot more attention.

Hard, if not impossible to put the cat back into the bag. I think harm reduction programs such as methadone and suboxone clinics make more and more social sense. They need to be well run and well supervised.

There is also the real need for good management of severe chronic pain, and opioids are always going to be part of that equation. The difficult piece there, and one which needs more research and much better training of clinicians as well as national policies, is how to help people with severe chronic pain who are also addicts. Intervention and support for families of addicts is sadly lacking.