Use of Someone Else's Codeine Prescription

QUESTION: I am a 40 year old woman who for the past three months had been
taking a prescription (someone else's): codeine tablets for a back problem.
The problem has since gone, but I have come to enjoy the effects of the drug.
Am I in any way doing harm to myself? I take about 4-6 tablets every day.
Thank you for your reply.
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ANSWER: Frankly speaking, you are breaking every rule in the book, and may be
in serious trouble. The first no-no is to take another person's prescription
medicine. No such medication is safe without the examination and testing that
leads to the diagnosis that precedes any consideration of possible medication.
Second, you are taking a powerful medicine without a physician to counsel and
guide you. Third, and most important in your case, you are taking a potent
narcotic, an addictive substance, merely for the enjoyable effects, rather
than to suppress pain. All signs point to the possibility that you may
already be hooked. I wonder to myself how you are obtaining the drug for this
length of time? At any rate, the time has come to quit, which may be more
difficult than you imagined, but either alone or with help and guidance, you
must stop before further damage is done.