"Many states and municipalities have filed lawsuits against opioid drug makers that they blame for a national addiction crisis."
This is becoming the new norm. People are killing themselves left and right because they are misusing the product. And right away we have to blame the manufacturer. It's happening with firearms. Now it's with pain killers. It's completely insane. Oxycodone has existed since 1916. It was first introduced to America in 1939. Percodan came on the market in 1950.
Most all of these opiate pain killers have all been around in one form or another for close to a century. Now, all of a sudden, we have a big problem with people dropping dead to the tune of over 40,000 a year because they either can't, or won't follow the instructions that are printed on the bottle of every one of them that is prescribed.
What has changed? Obviously not the medication. So it's the attitude and behavior of the consumer who is taking it. When I had major knee, inner ear, as well as 2 hernia surgeries, I was prescribed narcotic pain killers for all of them. I followed the directions precisely. I never had a single issue. I quit taking them after the pain subsided enough to where I could go without them. With my first major knee surgery back in 1972, that was for over 4 months because I had complications.
It didn't matter because I never became addicted. Again, I followed the directions on the prescription bottle. "Every 4 hours, with no more than 4 pills in a 24 hour period", does not mean take 15 a day, and you'll get a great buzz on. This is what is happening.
Doctors are now forced to change how they prescribe this medication. Even to elderly patients who have never had an issue with it. And who many have been on for months. Even years on end because they live in constant pain. They now have to suffer, or else have to go through some B.S. "Pain Management" class, before their doctor can even write a refillable prescription for them.
Even then they have strict limitations they did not have to deal with before. As a result they now have to live in pain, when before they did not. They use the drugs properly, and without issues. But are now forced to suffer because others do not.
None of this nonsense is going to change anything. Any more than including these stupid "gun locks" will prevent firearm accidents. The easy way out never solves the problem. All of this falls under the, "Well, we have to do something!" pretext. Much like gun control, "Something" is rarely if ever the right thing.