Anyone writing opioid epidemics only happen in the US is either poorly informed or is intellectually dishonest. I assume the second here, since this reads like contemporary agitprop.
So it's within reason for the article to say "[US] people abuse opioids en masse unlike anywhere else in the world"
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/15/ameri...
I found the article to be interesting but the weakest part by far was where he mentioned declining life expectancy as to do with the lack of public health care, and thus unique the USA except for the UK. But wait, the UK has an entirely nationalised healthcare system, it's the literal opposite of the USA. So if the UK is seeing the same thing, that suggests it can't be due to the funding mechanism used. It's more likely that we've hit some sort of life expectancy peak in the most highly developed western nations and if the UK and USA go first, it's very likely that other countries aren't far behind.
Except that the US hasn't reached the peak—life expectancy in other nations is up to 5-10 years higher (depending on gender).
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_prevalenc...
This data isn't up-to-date and the list is for opiates, not opioids But this still gives you a good sense for which countries to look up. IMO opiates are closer to marijuana or cocaine than to heroin -- i.e., an otherwise healthy, happy, intelligent, and drug-educated person using in a purely recreational context is unlikely to die or even become severely addicted. Different from opioids in that respect.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic#Outside_North_...
Not much info, but we get pointers to some of the same countries at the top of the opiates list.