No. Tapering off them is the way to go to prevent or lesson withdraw. Unfortunately, people who obtain them illegally are going to find it hard to taper off them without medical supervision.
"America" has no problem - certain individuals have a problem and has nothing to do with America. If people choose not to have any hope and kill themselves then that is their thing, not mine. There is plenty of help of all kinds out there if they should choose to avail themselves of it. I cured myself and got off them just as my youngest stepdaughter did. With no dependence on the government of any kind. People make choices and must live (or die) in consequence. I can have little compassion for those who have no desire to change or help themselves. As someone (perhaps Element99) once posted on here if they want to off themselves let them - means there is more for those of us who choose not to.
cri·sis noun a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger. "the current economic crisis" synonyms: emergency, disaster, catastrophe, calamity; More
a time when a difficult or important decision must be made. "a crisis point of history" synonyms: critical point, turning point, crossroads, watershed, head, moment of truth, zero hour, point of no return, Rubicon, doomsday; More
the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death.
The only "crisis" of suicide is when some stuffed shirt feels embarrassed. Nobody so far has admitted to being embarrassed.
America is emotionally unwell. There are tons of symptoms of this. The opioid crisis is a symptom. Addiction typically comes on the heels of untreated mental illness, such as depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or BPD. We see it across virtually every addiction from opioids to cocaine and alcohol. Suicide is another symptom of the main problem.
Removing opioids won't do a bit of good. First, it's virtually impossible. But, lets say we would magically detect all opiods illegally crossing our borders and doctors stopped prescribing them. These people who would have used opioids will likely turn to something else because it's not about the drug itself. It's them trying to "heal" what's wrong with them by numbing away the pain/ self-medicating. They hurt. They feel like they're carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders and hit a point where they can't go on.
We need to raise awareness for mental health issues and eliminate the stigma. We need to create more connections between people and provide more services for those who are suffering- ideally before they become addicts. I'm almost of the mind that we should legalize virtually every substance and any money currently spent on "drug wars" should be funneled into public mental health care and community programs instead.
Pearl 