This narrative was everywhere—including in liberal outlets normally receptive to drug policy reform, like Rolling Stone. The conclusion seemed obvious: for some reason, in this country, prescription doesn’t reduce problems—it metastasizes them. This seemed to blast a hole in the case for providing legal access to the most potent drugs in the United States, and I was sent into a spiral of confusion. I looked over the evidence, and these critics seemed to be right. Oxycontin and Vicodin addictions are indeed spreading in the United States, and they are causing more criminality and overdose. The
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