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Heroin addiction is a major problem, I agree.
Ongoing articles on the heroin epidemic make it sound like everyone will become addicted to prescription painkillers and end up hooked on heroin.
I tried to find statistics on the number of people who use opiates but who do not become addicted to them or any other drug but I couldn't find much.
According to the website, "Help Me Get Off Drugs," … "most people who take opioid medication do not become addicted, even some on high doses for long periods of time," and, "… only a minority develop the compulsive and uncontrollable behaviors of addiction."
All of the legislation that has been enacted supposedly to combat heroin addiction only makes it harder for the millions of people who suffer from chronic pain and who need opiates to have any kind of quality of life. That legislation, and society as a whole, are treating people like me as criminals. I have to sign a document regarding my prescription and if I renege on it, I can never get a prescription for opiates ever again.
I am subjected to random urine tests. My doctor can require me, at any time, to present to her my prescription bottle so she can count how many are left in it. This is just to name a few. I personally know several people who have taken prescription opiates for chronic pain but who are not addicts and who are not in danger of using or becoming addicted to heroin.
I don't doubt that some heroin addicts did start out with an addiction to pain killers, but you are scaring the public into believing that opiates are dangerous and automatically lead to heroin addiction. I emailed Project Bald Eagle with my concerns but no one ever replied. I applaud their sincerity, but I would suggest that if they are serious about combatting heroin addiction, they need to look beyond opiate use. There must be many factors that contribute to heroin abuse.
You have already made life harder for those of us who need prescription opiates; don't make it any worse.