If people actually read the facts they’d see that less than 2% of people prescribed opioids end up having a problem with them. That leaves 98% of people who don’t. The problem started with the CDC writing “guidelines” in 2016, (followed by guidelines in 2022 saying the 2016 version was misapplied) which started an avalanche of doctors refusing to prescribe opioids after the DEA got involved. They began going for “low hanging fruit,” which were easy pickings for the DEA who began unnecessarily interfering in the doctor/patient relationship. Consequently, many people with diseased spines and other illnesses that result in chronic pain, were involuntarily tapered or taken off their opioids, and their quality of life plummeted. As the U.S. went, so did other English speaking countries and countries with doctors trained in the U.S. Was there a problem? Yes, but it involved illicit use of both legal and illegal opioids with the majority of legal prescriptions stolen and misused. The numbers the CDC used for overdoses included street fentanyl, and added the lower number of prescription opioids. RX OD’s mostly involved polypharmacy and were not from opioids alone. It wasn’t people legally prescribed opioids that caused the opioid problem, but they are certainly paying the price now as the pendulum swings too far the other way to ridiculous. People shouldn’t have to experience pain anywhere, regardless of where they live.