>As a non-American I'm also curious about the mass necessity of opioid painkillers to begin with. The necessity is a result of big pharma lobbying activity, th

>As a non-American I'm also curious about the mass necessity of opioid painkillers to begin with. The necessity is a result of big pharma lobbying activity, there is generally no medical necessity for opioids. Big pharma money ensures things like marijuana remain a class 1 narcotic at the federal level meaning there is no known medical uses of the "drug." This allows pharma regulatory capture for their opiates which makes doctors, pharma, pharmacies and insurance money, so it simply becomes the norm to prescribe patients these highly addictive and euphoria inducing painkillers. So long as the patient remains insured, can pay and claims they are in pain, the Doctor will give them their drugs. One astonishing fact is nearly 90 of the top 100 opioid prescribing doctors are in Florida, and 85% of all oxycodone a highly addictive variety of opioid therapy is prescribed in Florida.