There are other painkillers coming and going. In my country, the middle ground was, for years, metamizole. This drug is currently baned in some countries (e.g.

There are other painkillers coming and going. In my country, the middle ground was, for years, metamizole. This drug is currently baned in some countries (e.g. USA) for its side effects, while is sold nearly OTC in others (e.g. Mexico). Other drugs like flupirtine or nefopam are about the same: middle ground painkillers, but too bad side effects. The good thing about opioids is that you can dosage them precisely, and that you have plenty of opiates in a ladder of potency. Tramadol (sold as Ultram in the US) is a middle-ground painkiller despite being an opiate. Same as codeine. Slightly above is tapentadol. Curious thing is despite tapentadol has not been found addictive (at least as addictive as other opiates), it's still an opiate, and so the FDA put it in the same bucket as fentanyl and morphine. Another analgesic is cannabis. Sadly, it has the same problem as opiates: it was deemed too fun or too good, it seems we must endure pain to make the regulators happy. It turns out people hate pain, so they end up taking fentanyl and heroing under a bridge. The sad thing about all this is that the regulators decided pain is not a bad thing, so you must endure it. But they decided anxiety is a terrible thing, so you can get as much bromazepam as you need. Even when bromazepan and other benzodiazepines create dependence and tolerance (and the withdrawal is terrible), I'm sure you now at least a dozen people taking it cronically (I do). They are as hooked to that thing as it was heroin but, hey, it's legally prescribed, so no problem here: one pill for breakfast, one before bed, and they are 24/7 high while nobody bats an eye.