Pills can make you feel good. You aren't supposed to just be able to feel good without doing some sort of "work" to "earn" it. So the pills are cheating. We'll give you a concession if your circumstances make you feel extra bad, but only until you reach the normal level of "feel-good" that should be afforded to you by your station in life.
The whole "war on drugs" exploits this involuntary tic in popular opinion.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/08/annika-eriksson-swe...
I'm very much a libertarian kind of guy and part of me wants to say "well so, its their life, let them do what they want". But these deaths have serious societal repercussions: the removal of an otherwise productive body and the orphaning of children.
I don't like shades of gray, but this seems like the government overreacting to a problem. I don't think people should go to jail because of substance abuse, I do think that people in legitimate pain deserve to be relieved from that pain, but I also think the government has a legitimate role in regulating these drugs.