BEGINNING in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies selling high-dose opioids seized upon a notion, based on flimsy scientific evidence, that regardless of the length of treatment, patients would not become addicted to opioids.

It has proved to be one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine.

An epidemic of prescription drug abuse has swept across the country as a result, and one of the latest victims, according to The New York Times, may have been Prince.

The paper reported that he had developed a problem with prescription painkillers, and that just before his death, friends sought urgent medical help from a California doctor who specializes in treating people addicted to pain medication. Whether pain pills played a role in his death won’t be known until the results of an autopsy are released.

How did we get this so wrong?

The so-called proof that patients would not become addicted was based on a limited number of patients. This was coupled with the idea that opioids should be used for a broad range of indications — including all types of moderate to severe pain when, in fact, they don’t work against all forms of chronic pain.