There are not 100 issues bigger than price. There might be a few, depending on the user. Legality, sure. Access to IV equipment, perhaps. Other than that, opiates have little side effects outside of respiration depression and constipation.

Implicit in proper pricing is that it'd be legal and easy to use.

Which issues are you thinking about?

Where do you get your information from?

>opiates have little side effects outside of respiration depression and constipation

Maybe with proper dosage and medical supervision, maybe. But I think the biggest side effects of regular opiate abuse are addiction and a loss of productivity. I don't think those effects can be discounted. The biggest "waking" factor I have heard ex-junkies state as why they wanted to sober up were "I was killing my family", "I was killing myself", and "it was only a matter of time before it killed me or I killed someone for it".

That said, clean equipment certainly helps solve some of the issues, as infections are extremely common with intravenous users.

I've talked to users and tried to lookup information on actual harm. Unlike, say, benzos, I didn't find anything showing, say, decreased intelligence or severe health issues. (There might be some immune suppressant effect, though.) Everything, as you noted, seems to look at users buying uncontrolled medicine and using unhygienic methods of administration. I dunno about studies of productivity. Anecdotally, plenty of people seem to find it helpful (they say out held them through the day).

>I killed someone for it

I can't see how this is anything but a pricing/accessibility issue. Otherwise there's just no incentive -- it's about as expensive a habit as alcohol if bought legally.