Just look at the simple fact that they were schedule 3 instead of schedule 2 until 2014, even though the base hydrocodone was schedule 2 without adulterants.

Here's an interesting discussion from 2010, before they were rescheduled

https://painmedicine.oxfordjournals.org/content/11/3/379.ful...

I think what you were taught in med school was correct.

I was told by an emergency room nurse that Vicodin is not killing patients/abusers; it the liver damage that results from the acetaminophen.

A few years ago, I heard they were talking about removing it, but lost track of the outcome.