Oh, please, mild prescription painkillers are getting so over-demonized because of spoiled, pussified millenials who can't control themselves when they eventually get cut off. Because their parents never told them no and they can't deal with a sudden cessation of something that feels good.
I know from experience. I've never done heroin or even Oxycontin in my life, and in my life I was understandably addicted to Vicodin on a few different long-term occasions in my 20s when my teeth were constantly disintegrating and falling out (due to my idiotic, massive methamphetamine habit in my early 20s), requiring regular extraction surgery and 24/7 agony in my jaws. Have you ever had tooth pain so bad it achieves that bizarre hot/cold electrical quality, that crackles up and down your head? That's how bad it was and I was taking up to 12-14 Vicodins a day (chased with a drink or two) over a long time. It was actually a blessing in disguise because around the turn of the century I got fitted with full dentures that looked and functioned far better than my real teeth ever did (which are in the same 27 club as Janis and Morrison).
My point being: prescription opiates like Vicodin have the shortest, most forgiving withdrawal of any addictive drug. After only a week, maybe 10 days, I'd feel mostly normal again and my cravings would be faded away to occasional nostalgia. What kind of weak, whimpering, namby-pamby sissy would be unable to deal with such a relatively merciful withdrawal and need to move on to street heroin to deal with what is essentially just a pain in the ass? I'm just as sickened when I hear of a celebrity having INPATIENT PROFESSIONAL TREATMENT for a Vicodin addiction???? What a soft, delicate, spoiled little baby who can't deal with the slightest discomfort on his own!
