I suspect there are a lot of root causes of the epidemic, and I'm in favor of curbing use of opiods in hospital settings as well as going after drug companies that oversell their shit. I don't pretend to have all the solutions, but doing nothing is only going to make things worse. I also support treating the users with some sympathy and providing law enforcement with that antidote thing I've heard about but can't remember the name of.
This is the one area where "big pharma" has been pretty unforgivable recently. There's definitely malfeasance going on there, but it's also important to remember that many doctors are total scumbags/idiots and need to be held accountable too.
Oh I agree. Doctors, for all their reverence, are incredibly corrupt when it comes to suggesting medicines to their patients. It makes sense because there's no way for a human to be aware of every single remedy and weigh the pros and cons. But this kind of epidemic doesn't just happen. ---