Or... legalize opiates? It's clear that the actual problem in stories like this article is purely caused by legality and the prices it entails. Opiates are really cheap (if you don't by brand-name ones). It'd be no big deal at all for people to use if they didn't pay these ridiculous prices. No stealing. No using dirty needles if they could just get them. And on and on.

Plus people wouldn't be as tempted to switch from properly produced pharma-grade pills to "street heroin", which can vary immensely in quality and purity. They do now because the pricing is out of control, due to the DEA's war on pain patients.