Re pain drugs: there was an article about how an alternative pathway for pain drugs that has soaked up lots of research money from several companies -- does not work.

As far as opioids, most of the opioid deaths are caused by people using ILLEGAL drugs imported from China (illegally). Those illegal drugs can be way too strong, or have toxins in them.

I think that that almost as many people would still be addicted, and there would be almost as many deaths, if a non-opioid painkiller were found to be as effective. During Prohibition people still drank, and in the Netherlands where you can register as an addict and get safe, legal drugs, people still are addicted. It would be great to have a better painkiller, that just took away the pain and didn't have any other effects. But blaming the opioid crisis on PRESCRIPTION drugs is simplistic. Doctors have drastically cut the amounts of drugs they prescribe, yet people keep OD'ing on the illegal ones.