Poorly thought out federal policies regarding pain meds is partially responsible for the explosion first in heroin, and now fentanyl, in this country. I'm in pain all the time, yet the docs won't prescribe anything stronger than Tylenol #3 with codeine because if they prescribe Vicodin or Norco, then the feds watch them, the paperwork is extensive, and they risk their license. So people with legit needs for pain meds look for relief elsewhere, and let's face it, it's really easy to score fentanyl online now. Don't get me wrong.....there was significant overprescribing going on and people got addicted through lies about pain levels, etc., and rather than face withdrawals they turned to heroin/fentanyl. I was working patrol and we went from finding heroin maybe a couple times per year to finding it almost everyday. Turning to heroin after being cut off pain meds due to a change in federal policy was a really common story I'd hear from addicts. That having been said.....I've never taken any pain meds not prescribed by my doctor....but I was getting 60 Norcos every 6 months (that works out to one pill every 3 days) and then all of a sudden the feds decided that was excessive and I was cut off. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to thinking about scoring something online for those really bad days, but I don't want to go down that path.