No,
I've never truly felt like a slave, at least not in a negative sense.
If you mean do I feel like a slave when i'm arrested for using drugs & then forced into a tiny cage? Possibly then.
If your addiction is causing you financial trouble, then yeah it's going to suck. And you're going to feel like a 'slave' to it.
If you have a consistent source for it, it can be smooth sailing. This makes a difference if you include prohibition into the context.
If it's a drug that's causing you harm in your life or to your organs/brain, then yeah you're pretty much a slave & probably need help.
So it really varies by person. There are a lot of people who can't handle drugs but accidentally get physically dependent and then they usually blame the drugs for all their woes, which is some what reasonable if they didn't truly know they were going to end up dependent.
It also depends on which definition of "addiction" you go by. Most people think of dependence as addiction. Or just as somebody who can't control their intake.
Is some one who uses heroin but can control their intake an "addict" then? If they end up dependent? Or are they just some one who's dependent but enjoys their dependence? Addiction & dependence are two different distinct things but they do overlap a lot.
If I used heroin everyday & was dependent, but didn't go crazy with it & it caused me no drastic quality of life reduction, than would I still be considered an "addict"?
If by an addict we mean some one who just needs drugs, no matter what they are & just goes crazy with them... well, ironically I'm only an "addict" when I don't have opioids then. lol Since when I have them, it's a lot easier for me to say no to any other drugs.
At the end of the day, one could say I'm also a 'slave' to water & food, since I have to eat & drink it to stay alive. Is it a bad thing? Well that would be entirely subjective, as is this question. So there are always going to be a million different answers.
Anyone ever feel like a slave to sobriety? Which is worse? Again, pretty subjective.