That simple bureaucratic intervention evolves into an overstory—a narrative that says opioids are different, spurring the physician to pause and think before prescribing them. And that overstory is so compelling that when Purdue tests its new painkiller in a triplicate state half a century later, it runs into a brick wall. Overstories matter. You can create them. They can spread. They are powerful. And they can endure for decades.
