All opiates are still prescribed in America...and in the entire world over. It just depends on the doctor, the patient, diagnosis, need, and so on. The restrictions & red tape have gotten completely out of hand, and for most uninsured pain patients it would be as cheap to buy pure fent off the streets for chronic pain. I've been prescribed pain meds, benzos, and Adderall all since I was still in high school, so for well over a decade now...because I truly need them to function. I'd be dead from alcoholism by now if not for this combination. Many people do, not just Americans or the Dutch, but many people just chose to either suffer in silence, be tough, or are afraid of potentially addictive drugs and refuse them altogether. That said, let there be ZERO doubt about the fact that the government single-handedly created the fentanyl crisis by turning a blind eye to those in pain and allowing them to suffer under the guise of "protecting the public from the prescription drug menace", and they also turned a blind eye to the menace of the drug cartels that are murdering people in the streets.
Drugs to me are like cars and guns....as long as I'm the one in control of them I feel perfectly safe around them, but unfortunately so many immature morons in the world are completely irresponsible with everything they do. They do drugs irresponsibly, drive irresponsibly, hell they probably even use a goddamn stove irresponsibly!
It does truly irk me that we can put people on the moon, but we can't take care of people's basic needs (like pain relief, anxiety relief, sleep,etc..) even though we have the tools(medicines) to do so, everybody is busy covering their own respective asses.
P.S. I sure hope I never experience opioid induced hyperalgesia, they're the only pain relief that works...aside from getting blackout drunk and everything else all day & night.