I think a part of what's driven the opiate epidemic was the massive overprescription of opiate painkillers by doctors and the marketing surrounding them.
People tend to trust that their doctor is right. If the doctor gives you oxycodone, you assume that it's safe.
Tied in with that is the increased availability of heroin and fentanyl, and now decreased availability of prescription painkillers, pushing users from taking relatively safe pills to injecting drugs, which is an order of magnitude more damaging.
An oral surgeon gave me an opioid prescription several years ago after a tooth extraction. The pain was minor so I never filled the script, but in retrospect just giving me the prescription seems like malpractice. I can totally see how other patients would end up addicted in that situation.
People tend to trust that their doctor is right. If the doctor gives you oxycodone, you assume that it's safe.
Tied in with that is the increased availability of heroin and fentanyl, and now decreased availability of prescription painkillers, pushing users from taking relatively safe pills to injecting drugs, which is an order of magnitude more damaging.