I have no idea.

My ex-husband has an autoimmune disease which when in a flare is debilitating. His ability to access pain relief is also impossible even though he's diagnosed, has sought stronger pain relief maybe 4 times in 7 years as he hates taking any form of medicine and has also been refused. One GP explained to him that prescribing opiates to someone like him with ongoing constant pain would in fact cause him more pain in the long run. That doctor prescribed 5 X 5mg valium and said to focus on the muscle relaxant with anti inflamms rather than opiate based pain relief.

The most I've ever been given which has always been sufficient is an initial panadiene forte box (bad back, tooth ache, migraines)

My mum? I don't know why, how or who but is constantly prescribed opiate based pain relief for any pain she presents to a doctor with. She's hurt her shoulder at the moment and has walked out with Tapentadol IR and SR. The SR looks to be a box of 50. Each time she will fill the script and put it in her medicine cabinet " for the family to use". It's terrifying. She has boxes of panadiene forte, Buprenorphine, tramadol, Tapentadol, amitriptyline, pregabalin, Oxycodone. It seems whoever she sees, she walks away with huge levels of pain relief when it isn't warranted "just in case" and she stock piles them "just in case". My friends report similar ease of accessing pain relief for their mothers in a similar age bracket.

But it's always seemed difficult for my ex husband to gain access to it when required. Maybe that's because chronic pain and temporary pain are not the same things