We end up in a worse place societally if we go with line of least resistance every time. "Education and freedom to decide" results in patients asking for antibiotics for everything from a common cold upwards, and opiates for every headache and broken bone which has major consequences for everyone. Upto and including the end of the antibiotic era and stories of needless opiate epidemics.

A couple of weeks of serious discomfort, especially if a clearly temporary condition, is not something to be erased at every opportunity. It is a normal part of injury and healing and something we should not necessarily expect to automatically numb out of existence with drugs. Which is broadly what the surgeon and medical folks told me after my operation (for something else though). Along with the suggestion to try a couple of Nurofen, but to come back and talk about if it remains too much. I got ONE dose of something opiate based, the morning after. For everything else I was frankly expected to expect serious discomfort that will go away in time. It did, though my rate of swearing rose quite remarkably for a week or two. :)

For chronic conditions where nothing else has worked of course they should be available. After an appropriate level of counselling and warning of the ratcheting down of effect and addictive consequences of extended use. Which suggests a prescription regime that treads lightly down that path. Offer 2 or 3 days of opiates first and explore every avenue before they become a daily medication that you will end up addicted to.

Freedom to decide is what risks ruining it for all, including those chronic patients who have no working alternatives, as their only option becomes hidden behind a layer of freely chosen, but needless addiction. That means it's necessarily slower for those in real need to get enough coverage and dosage, but hopefully only those that truly need end up on a daily dose.