It’s also Gods gift to those in horrible pain
You've hit upon a basic tenet of conservatism there. A person should be able to ingest whatever substance they see fit to ingest, without government interference.
Is opium a highly addictive drug? Yes.
Does it serve as a palliative to those in pain, especially those suffering greatly? Absolutely, and people have a right to ease their pain - the government has no right to force a person to suffer.
2 yrs ago, I tore off my rotator cuff. It was so bad that my pectoral muscle descended down my chest a little, because nothing was holding it up. It hurt, and life sucked. I got an operation, but the opioids they gave me (synthesized opiates created in a lab and not deriving from the poppy plant) made my skin itch terribly; terribly I say.
This itching affects a few percent of the people who take it. If I had access to regular, plant-based opiates I could have avoided that terrible period of my life.