That's not how we ended up with the opioid epidemic. We ended up with the opioid epidemic when doctors working in concert with drug companies engaged in criminal fraud to prescribe medication far beyond its normal dosages and in cases where it was not necessary.
It was all of the above. Some doctors were prescribing them at higher doses than necessary; others were prescribing them in normal doses for longer than is safe. I am sure that at least some of these doctors were driven by compassion for their patients.
