When medicinal uses of opium are misused, it leads to addiction. When first used, opium can give users a feeling of euphoria, extreme calm, or well being. Their troubles may seem unimportant and nothing else really matters, except for the fact that the drug works. But often nightmares and hallucinations may come into play when the affects of the drug wears off. At that point, the user will often need more of the opium to satisfy their need for more. As time goes on, the addict develops an increasing tolerance to the effects of the drug, and more and more of the drug is needed to produce the initial effect of euphoria. Many addicts will eventually gets symptoms of withdrawal after years of using opium.

Opium addiction is a major problem in the world. For example, in China, there are more than 500,000 heroin addicts, with the youth accounting for more than 70 percent of that total.

There are various combinations of methods to treat opium addiction. Detoxification is the gradual reduction of opium doses so that both the body and mind won't have to rely on enormous amounts of the drug. A drug called methadone is often used to substitute for the opium. Another method of treatment is called drug maintenance, where the addict is given methadone orally on a regular basis. The result is a cross-tolerance for heroin and other opiates, so that use of opiates has little or no effect. The third of method is using narcotic antagonists such as naloxone, to occupy the opiate receptor sites on nerve cells and thus preventing opiates from having any effect. The forth of method is psychological maturation of the addict, often with the aid of psychotherapy, to eliminate the emotional problems underlying the need for opium. The fifth method is retraining former addicts in new behaviors and attitudes to make a drug-free life. The sixth method is prolonged enforced withdrawal from the addictive opiate in hopes of permanently freeing the addict from any opiates. All of these methods have been proven to have variable success rates, but the second, fourth, and have been especially effective.