It's not so much the drug makers fault but the quack drs that prescribe these meds.that's how I basically got hooked.
In the early 90s you could basically walk into a drs office, pay cash, especially if you had a badge like i did, and proceed to order n get whatever you wanted.
I started on percs then after a year or so when the dr said i didn't need them anymore I found i could barely function without opiates. My parter said I had a "habit", that i was hooked on the same shit we were busting ppl with.
I laughed and said no way...until i popped someone with a few buns of smack. Curiosity won and I took a few home with me and tried them. Nothing at 1st,then i did it again weeks later and wham,just what I was looking for my whole life. In 3mnths I was not only using but selling as well. My habit was around $2-300 a day. That is until i figured shooting it would be cheaper.in less than a year i wasted my 3 bank accounts totaling close to $100k. Had money for my retirement, money to fix up my house and play money.
When i got arrested i was suspended with pay till my UA came back. I was called in 2mnths later, forced to resign and given my 10yr pension check totaling close to $30k. Spent that plus my wife's $10k settlement check from a car accident.
So do I blame big pharma...no. Can't even place whole blame on drs as it was i who made that conscious decision to use. There were other factors involved with my horrendous decisions. Blaming others or using situations I've gone thru only makes me use harder.
It's like blaming Colt or Remington for all the victims of gun shots. They only make the weapons but it's consumers or criminals who abuse them.
There are needs for both pharmaceuticals and weaponry alike.