Opiate analgesics are widely accepted as best practice in the management of chronic pain syndromes. Unfortunately, such medications have high dependence liability, putting them at risk for abuse.

Chronic pain is estimated to affect 35 percent of the population at some point in their lives. Chronic pain has various definitions. Two such definitions are “Pain of three months or six months duration” and “Persistence of pain beyond what is medically expected”. The most common etiologies are degenerative joint and disc disease, rheumatoid arthritis and other spondyleomyopathies, hemarthroses, pain associated with chronic illnesses such as cancer and collagen vascular diseases, and diabetic and other neuropathies.