Opioids are potent painkillers and highly addictive drugs. As a
group, opioids include heroin, as well as prescription
medications such as fentanyl, oxycodone (Oxycontin®),
hydrocodone (Vicodin®), morphine, and codeine.
Opioids are so powerful that it’s easy to take a dose large
enough to stop your heart unknowingly. This makes them
especially dangerous when addiction leads to taking
progressively higher doses.

Even when you take opioids to alleviate pain, you’ll feel the
rush of euphoria that develops when opioids activate your
brain’s reward system and trigger a large release of
endorphins. Continuous opioid use causes physical changes in
the brain, leading to an irresistible craving for the drug. That’s
when you’re addicted.