This is so exaggerated.
There were about 15,000 prescription opioid deaths last year. That's up from about 4,000 prescription opioid deaths in 1999.
About half of those deaths were suicides.
Most of the other deaths involved people who dangerously combined alcohol or other drugs with their prescription opioid.
Therapy can help only a limited percentage of people with suicidal tendencies.
And, there has never been a therapy for reckless or stupid behavior.
The only “solution” is legislative...
The consequence of this bogus “epidemic” is that people who have severe intractable pain will now need to fight a monthly war with their doctor to obtain prescriptions.
And the price of those drugs will dramatically increase because most drug makers are going to drop out of this legally dangerous business.
And, completely useless federally funded “pain clinics” will sprout like mushrooms.
Full Disclosure...
As a life long runner, I have exceptionally high pain tolerance.
But, I also have sincere empathy for those who do not have high pain tolerance.
I do not understand why they need to suffer because less than 1% of the population abuses prescription opioids.
Why limit it to prescription drugs? There were an additional 35k non-prescription opioid deaths in 2016.