I'm going to comment here with a plug for the March For Science, on April 22.

Why?

Because the opioid epidemic started with a simple matter of scientists not being allowed to science.

Purdue Pharmaceuticals marketed oxycontin as a drug that lasts for 12 hours.

The evidence indicated it only lasted for 8.

If Purdue's scientists were allowed to act on the evidence, i.e. to be actual scientists, the whole world would have known this years ago. People prescribed oxycontin would have been told to plan for 8 hours of relief, not 12.

Instead, hundreds of thousands of patients were subjected to 4 hours of pain a day, and they sought relief with other drugs, including illegal ones. And the epidemic began.

Science is important, yo.