"I called him up to discuss stopping the Vicodin, only to be shocked when he vehemently told me to keep taking the medicine. He told me that my body needs it — that it wouldn’t be able to function without Vicodin."? RUFKM! You encountered a horrible Doctor, not a horrible drug. Your experience is the exception not the rule because the interaction with drugs is different for everyone. Do you have any idea how many prescriptions for painkillers are written every year? Do you know the addiction rate base don those numbers?