If you take a snapshot of the state of things at the height of opioid prescriptions and a snapshot now it's hard to say that it wasn't a hell of a lot better.

People weren't ODing or engaging in petty crime with anywhere near the same frequency when they could get their fix from their doctor. The feds cracked down and people turned to the black market and that gets us to where we are today.

Obviously manufacturers giving doctors kickbacks for getting people onto addictive substances is far from ideal but the enemy of my enemy is my ally and all that.