To be fair, most people weren't aware of the problems prescription opioids cause until very recently. People also smoked for decades until it was established th

To be fair, most people weren't aware of the problems prescription opioids cause until very recently. People also smoked for decades until it was established that smoking is unhealthy. Banning a drug will only lead it to go underground. If you ban cigarettes, everything moves to the black market. The US has experienced in past decades that banning drugs and fighting their distribution is not necessarily effective. If you legalise a drug but tax it heavily (and provide other restrictions), you control the supply chain (ensuring quality) and can recover some of the costs via taxes.