Amid a worrisome rise in abuse of prescription painkillers, scientists are desperately searching for new ways to help pain sufferers. They are trying anything from addiction resistant narcotics to using brain scanners for biofeedback. The good news is that only a tiny fraction of patients who  are prescribed the most powerful painkillers, drugs known as opioids, including morphine, Vicodin, fentanyl and Oxycontin, become dependent on them. Chronic pain affects one of every three or four adults worldwide. The government says that one in ten Americans have pain that lasts a year or more. One in 10 high school seniors admits to popping Vicodin for non-medical purposes, and recent studies suggest about 2.2 million people age 12 and older first abused painkillers in the past year, outpacing new marijuana users. Read more about, Pain Relief