Until I lately retired, I worked for more than two decades with homeless, addicted and poor people although dependancy does not touch the lives of as many homeless as is portrayed. Programs I oversaw had politicians and favourite faculty/expert football gamers one of whom couldn’t read or write. At a similar time my wife has a rare, poorly understood physical incapacity now in its 13th year. Without Opioid drugs she couldn’t function. Yet this ‘epidemic’ is making it always more challenging to get the drugs all of her pain doctors and other specialists totally take note the desire for.
From my angle here is about money and coverage businesses as much as anything else.