Maybe this will turn into a tobacco moment for the industry.
And in the end what will happen is that people that legitimately need pain killers will be told "sorry, you might get addicted, just tough it out". Not a world I want to live in.
I am asking in good faith: I used to be prescribed cortisone, and managing the end of the treatment was a pain, I just decided to stop worrying treating my rashes altogether, because that was getting ridiculous. I am wondering if some doctors also threw the towel on that one.
Based on research canibis is promising http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullart... With a 25% reduction in opioid abuse by allowing patients access (not necessarily prescribing).
The people who got addicted, and the subject of the lawsuit, were prescribed opioids for long-term pain management. Of course you're going to get addicted if you take them every day for weeks or months. It's the nature of the drug, and the drug companies are being sued because the purposefully downplayed that.
If the teeth have come in enough though, they can be treated like regular extractions. They are still painful, but generally much less invasive / potentially complicated.
Instead of getting handed opiates like they are harmless because the doctors believed the drug companies who tried to pass them off as safe for unmonitored use.