“But I knew someone -— a knowledgeable and compassionate person, a CNA hospice nurse and grandmother-— who’d cared beautifully for my father -— who was in bad pain with no relief, from injuries from a fall on an icy street. Right or wrong, I gave her what was left of my meds. Sad to see that, years later, she’d been picked up by the police on controlled-substance charges.”
Are you sure she wasn’t already an addict and you got played? Addicts will lie to anyone, at any time, to get what they want.
I knew Sarah very well, since she had been at my house almost daily during the last 6 months of my father's life (home hospice care). We interacted a lot, and became friends. I know that (like me) took Ibuprofen for her occasional arthritic aches and pains.
Also knew about her fall on the ice, and her awful pain woes thereafter.
But your point is a good one: addicts WILL lie to get drugs. But I don't think Sarah was in that category. Not then. She might possibly have been addicted later, but it wouldn't have been because of "recreational" taking of drugs.