Where I live, opioid addiction is one of the highest on the east coast. I remember reading a story a couple of years ago about a fairly well-off woman, who was originally prescribed an opioid after an accident. She became so dependent on the drug, that once it was taken away from her, she began purchasing it on the street. What was probably a $20 prescription, became a $20 per pill habit. Over time, even having money, she could no longer afford to feed her addiction with the pills, so she turned to heroin. It happens everywhere, it’s an epidemic of epic proportions. But like you said, law makers would rather have weed dealer arrested than people writing these prescriptions and giving them away like hot cakes.

In my area, the “answer” to this is to just open more methadone clinics. Methadone is not much better than the original drug, the addict is still completely dependent upon it in order to live a half way decent life. And let’s be honest, who can when they must go to the clinic 6 days per week in order to get their dose and receive counseling.

It’s why so many just drop the clinic and go back to the offending drug.

Thank you for sharing this op-ed, more people need to realize how bad it is.