Well, telling me I can't empathize is irritating, and isn't much of an explanation. But, I'm not sure what I was asking. Well OK, I think it's this: I don't bel

Well, telling me I can't empathize is irritating, and isn't much of an explanation. But, I'm not sure what I was asking. Well OK, I think it's this: I don't believe that statistically, people saying "I think I'll try opioids because I feel terrible" can be a driver of the epidemic, because on aggregate people wouldn't. Sure, some people feel more terrible than others, and some are more persuaded by circumstantial effects than others (including somebody I know who picked up an addiction from her boyfriend despite being a super-rational psychology student who should have known better). But these things can't be the main cause, because people in general do know better than to begin, and to have an "internal voice that you can't make stop", prior to addiction, can't be very common. Statistically, it's got to be something else. I'll go with the medical pill-pushing theory for now.