My Mom takes opiates - Morphine and Oxy are the main ones. She has end stage breast cancer (Stage 4) and she takes these opiates to keep the pain from taking over her mind. I’ve seen when the pain overwhelmed her and it was torture, absolute freaking torture. She feels pain every day, but without these opiates the pain would be untenable - she would not be able to stand it. Because of these opiates she’s able to keep going, able to be her normal awesome stubborn self. She’s able to fight. She’s 1.5 years past the arbitrary 5yr death date given by the doctors and she’s made it because she’s strong, stubborn and gives no shits- but also because of these opiates. You may not see a medical reason for opiates but they are the reason I still have my Mom. They’re not meant for recreational purposes, they’re not meant for back pain. They’re meant for end of life care, because that pain is beyond our understanding of pain. For the most part we only know broken bones and pulled muscles, maybe an infected tooth. The majority of us have no concept of what it feels like when something tries to murder us from the inside out. Before you try to outlaw something because it makes you feel uncomfortable - or because a massive corporate pharma criminal org has flooded every community with addictive opiate drugs they never needed - remember that there are ppl who do need these drugs - like my Mom. Responsible medical use should never be outlawed simply because of irresponsible use by pharma, medical ppl or reg ppl. Just cuz it makes u uncomfortable doesn’t mean it should be illegal.