as to sanctimony...it seems more like you're trying to justify your habits, normalize them, than that i'm trying to demonize anyone or anything. if you can deal with taking meth or heroin, then you be you...just remember, not everyone can deal with it, so for every 5 users you know, statistically, one of them is going to crash and burn.
i'm not against giving people in pain medication, including opiates. but they need to be prescribed for a limited amount of time, and the people taking them need to be monitored. if they have a chronic condition, and have to take it forever, they should never be prescribed more than a months worth at a time, and any thefts should be required to be reported immediately. i know people that farm doctors for pain pills, and have done so for a long time, that needs to be stopped, there should be some registry that keeps track of people prescribed opiates, and pop all kinds of red flagthe. By suggesting that I may be "justifying" the use of opiates, their names turn up in multiple places. some prevention would stop a lot of people from getting addicted to begin with, and free up more resources for those that still do.