It's an insane world we live in where all the measures that should be used to control the distribution of antibiotics exist, but they are used instead for opiates.

I'm not saying opiates addiction isn't a genuine problem, but it's a largely individual one. There's no widespread negative externalities to prescribing opiates to a patient. Antibiotics on the other hand, present a classic limited pool resource allocation problem (the same species of problem as the tragedy of the commons).

It's antibiotics that should require a three part pad, with one copy sent off to the federal government and investigations into over-prescribers -- not painkillers. It's antibiotics that should be subject to intentional treaties governing their distribution and use -- not painkillers. It's antibioatics that should have criminal penalties for misuse -- not painkillers.