I did it, for 3 years, using heroin (snorted) or codeine (oral) once or twice a week, or once a month, or once every other week, depending on what drugs I could score apart from weed, sometimes amphetamines, sometimes mdma, sometimes lsd... and depending on how I was feeling that weekend so I could chose one drug to "use".
I treated opiates as the other drugs EXCEPT knowing that they were extremely physically addicting, so knowing that, I've never used them for more than 2 days in a row.
The problem started when I got into a deep deep deep depression, and then I started to use heroin every day, I didn't mind to get addicted, I could afford the habit, and it was the only thing that produced me instant relief, allow me to go to work (in small doses), to sleep, to live... after a couple of weeks I started IVing it, it was bliss and it was a time I was switching from snorting to IV, to ending IVing every single dose. Then I realised on what the heck I was doing, that I had no reason to do it any more, and I successfully tapered heroin to 0, after a month I got deeply depressed again, I relapsed, so I decided to get help and started a maintenance program.
Now I'm on subs for 1 year and a half, now 0.1mg a day, tinny dose, I'm trying to taper, and I still use heroin (IVed) once a month or every two months, and when I do it I do it for only one or two days, with minimum WDs, and subs help a lot of course...
CONCLUSION: If you know from the beginning that you are going to go through HELL -using "medium" half life opiates (like heroin, codeine..)- for using those drugs for more than 2 days in a row, doing this more than once a week, if you KNOW this and you DON'T do it, I guess is perfectly possible to do a controllable, responsible and successful use of opiates.
And never ever DO NOT use opiates for depression, (despite I've read that they are studying bupe to use it for depression... whatever) if you are depressed, get help, I know opiates may seem the easiest and fastest way but at the end is the hardest.
Cheers.