not anymore, in certain parts of the country there is actually an issue of under-prescription of narcotics as an overreaction to the opioid crisis we are facing, with painkillers of course being the most difficult to access. Chronic severe pain patients and people with horrendous neurological conditions are going without the medications they need because prescribers are now terrified of heavy-handed medical boards

that said, 20 or so years ago prescribers in the U.S. were in various ways made to believe that painkillers such as oxycodone were not addictive and were these magical drugs that helped pain patients regain their lives in ways we had never seen before. Ended up in so many homes, lots of excess prescription opioids hanging around and as a result a lot of people ended up abusing them. For a significant number of people that led to heroin use, and then fentanyl came into the picture in 2015ish; so that's how we got here. heroin on its own when injected isn't actually that easy to accidentally overdose on- fentanyl however, is.