I dunno. We've known that for a long while now that a decent chunk of people are susceptible to very strong opioid addiction. Morphine addicts aren't new. Heroin addicts aren't new (in fact, I think heroin was originally created to help ween people off of morphine, but don't quote me on that). This really shouldn't strike us as new because it's not about ethnicity, culture, or economic status. Opioids are a type of drug that literally rewires your brain to get you hooked.

The fact that the medical community, from doctors to pharmaceutical companies, have known about the danger for decades and somehow things still got out of control? Maybe it's not fair, but they seem to be a reasonable target for a lot of this blame.

The layman though? How many people really expect them to know how dangerous this stuff is? Worse yet, it's been ingrained in American cultures to trust doctors. Your doctor knows better than you. His knowledge overrides your doubts and concerns. You don't know what you're doing in regards to your health, he does. Talk to your doctor. Trust your doctor. Listen to your doctor.

Victim blaming is just as much a part of our culture. Someone becomes an addict though? It's not the doctor's fault. It's their fault. Vices are the symptoms of being spiritually flawed, weak willed, or some other fault in character value. But reality is much more nuanced and much more unfair than that.

So yeah, maybe shame on everybody. But maybe less shame should go to the addicts and maybe the gatekeepers should get the lions share.