Opiates work great for decades. Problem is you have to have a doctor that knows how to use them. I was on them for 22 years. My dose never changed. I stepped off them in 72 hours after a taper.The whole country is in a serious opioid crisis, and I don't see it getting any better anytime soon.
Opiate addiction is, IMO, the toughest addiction to break. Meth and cocaine are a walk in the park comparatively. PAWS or post acute withdrawal from opioids, can and does last for years.
Doctors are beginning to wise up at least...Opiates are nothing to play with, but people are playing with them because the high is so great, at first....and they do give great pain relief at first. That's all they are really good for, is short term pain relief...Very short term!!
Fwiw, benzodiazepines are the toughest addiction to break and some say you never can break it. They create their own receptor site so for the rest of your life there's an inherent craving.
No, they need to stop practicing pain control medicine unless they are a board certified anesthesiologist with a fellowship in Pain Control. In other words tell them to stay in their lane.7 years of being on pills had me all fucked up had doctors telling me that I might haft to go to a methadone clinic to get some off the shit so I stopped all pill intake and smoked more pot and then lost all doctors because of smoking pot and now my new doctor's are trying to get me back on them lol so I tell them they need to quit practicing medicine and just do it right the first time