The term opiod epidemic is, in my opinion, overly broad.  It should not conflate all opiods as being equal and all users as being equal in their usage.  In the economically depressed region of Appalachia it is easier to get opiod pain medication on the "street" than it is any other drug.  There, it is the drug of choice out of convenience.  On the other hand, I regularly see injured workers managing pain on two 5mg vicodin a day, that their condition is chronic does not make them addicts. 

Do prescribed opiods pose the risk of addiction?  Yes.  However, I don't think  there is any medical evidence to support the notion that short-term pain (let's say 10 days or less) treated with opiods results in addiction.