Ahhhh, but who profits? Insurance companies have to pay for the drugs (with premiums). Doctors are net zero - once you filter out the junkets and swag. The government? I think I linked this somewhere but suffice it to say, they get to deal with a public health crisis. The people taking these pills? Well, let's agree they're not coming out ahead. They sure as shit aren't popping up on Forbes worth $14 billion. And you have my sympathy and my admiration. My mother in law has two prescriptions for Oxy and she refused to fill either. But the compounding pharmacy next to where my kid gets her hair cut has a big sign that says "WE HAVE NO OXYCONTIN" and bars on the windows. And my wife's medical sample boxes were stolen three times by pillheads who think anything that says "medical" on it is worth the risk. And I can be mad at junkies for junking but dollars to donuts they likely wish they weren't stealing fuckin' urine samples either. There's a powerful profit motive behind the opioid crisis. Wars have been fought over profits. Meanwhile, the drawbacks are externalizing all over everyone else. No less than St. Milton Friedman made this argument: if the public interest wants any control over the externalities of trade, they need to litigate to limit that trade. If they don't litigate, they don't get to bitch.No doubt the drug companies have a part in this... but so do the insurance companies, the doctors, the government, and the people taking these pills.
I have a prescription for an opioid. I take one about once per year when a migraine is really out of control and all of the other options haven't worked.