The other half of this article is the question of whether controlled-release really works for most patients and whether drugs like Oxycontin are really an improvement over morphine for pain management. The pattern of 12-hour larger doses instead of 4-hour smaller doses was heavily pushed to doctors by Purdue, despite mounting evidence that the drug couldn't control severe pain for that long and patients were increasing their use to compensate (which meant more sales).

http://www.latimes.com/projects/oxycontin-part1/

The modern history of opiates is one "less addictive!" claim after another, all equally false. It's potentially addictive because of the way it works, but most people who use opiates at some point don't become addicted because the drug effect interferes with the positive things in their life. If your life feels empty and hopeless, opiates are just one way you could fall down.