Yea, I think if all of our cumulative knowledge of Opioids consisted solely of Opioids and their acute and semi-acute (a few weeks, months maybe) effects on people, things would be different. There are a lot of scientific and medical facts that seem so obvious to us today but were only discovered truly after centuries of direct and indirect observation. The issue that I'm speaking to is the fact that Opioids have a tendency to "stop working". There are many factors at play here that produce our absolute and subjective tolerance(s) to Opiates. Receptors become modified, more are produced, the feeling produced by Opiates becomes more pedestrian the more you do it; all kinds of stuff.
My point is that, Opioids are miracle medicine. Society would be a lot different if we didn't have them at our disposal. The positive effects of Opioids are fleeting though. This includes their effects on chronic pain. I would argue that the primary goal of a dedicated pain management service is to keep tolerance at bay for as long as possible. It's normal to react to early experiences like this. Opioids are very effective anxiolytics and antidepressants in the short term. I forget exactly how long my honeymoon period lasted with Heroin, but it couldn't have been more than 6-9 months before the wheels began to seriously start falling off.
It would be great if you could keep your usage to certain occasions, but this is not generally how it works. They are called highly addictive for a reason. Like anything though, some people can take them or leave them. I think it is unlikely that your usage of Opioids, even the mild ones, will lead to anything other than an addiction and dependency, no matter how crazy this may sound to you right now. Everybody is different and perhaps you are.