What about those of us who have lost a relative due to his daily, chronic, 24/7 pain, and the fact that he couldn't get the pain pills that are legal and effective for his pain, he couldn't take the pain anymore and killed himself?
There is another side to this, and one answer, which may have eluded you, is personal responsibility. Let's be adults and take responsibility for our choices. If you have chronic, severe, pain, then you have a choice. You can refuse effective medicine that is available for your pain, or you can choose to take the medicine, with the knowledge that there is a risk of addiction if you do. Sometimes, that risk is worth it if the pain is bad enough. What I don't want to see is nanny-state do-gooders restricting my choices. I am an adult. I take responsibility for my choices.
That's not to say that maybe research should be done into alternative medicine or even better medicine that has a lower probability of addiction. However, given the medicine that we have now, there are times when the risk of addiction is worth the reduction in pain that is possible.
OMG! You actually want to take personal responsibility for your actions? How will we control you if you keep demanging to be a free man?
Opiods can and do reduce pain. They are also addictive. They can and do lead people down that dark path.
I see way to many people get on opiods for minor issues, and not get off them. Heck, I had to argue to NOT get one a year ago.
Pain pills are not solving the problem. My father had double knee replacement, and then took himself off of Oxy because he was scared of how it was making him numb. Opiods don’t just numb the pain, it makes it worse when the drug wears off. Once he went on a different regiment, he was off the pain pills totally in a few weeks.