The US has an opiod epidemic because it was easy to get fentanyl legally.
Bro, there was a movie made about how wrong you are on this topic. It's called pain hustlers, it stars captain america and emily blunt. In the movie they renamed the drug to Lonafen, but the actual drug is called Subsys. The drug contains Fentanyl.
In fact, maybe a reluctance to prescribe the stuff is exactly why the guy resorted to bribing people.
According to the CDC, 4% of fentanyl deaths come from prescription fentanyl.
The fentanyl epidemic is the result of market developments in the illegal drug trade.