My bad, took what you said the wrong way.
Also sorry if I took a part in hijacking this thread a little bit, hopefully the OP can respond with his own thoughts on whatever subject..
Anyway, you are right equanimity. My main complaint is that, living in America, I, and no one else for that matter, should have certain (in this case opiate addiction) medical issues decided upon based on rather or not a doctor or doctors 'agree' with a certain method. For example, I had to deal with a doctor who told me he wouldn't help me "Replace one addiction with another."
If you've done any type of research or thought about the subject at hand very much at all, you'd realize what absolute bullshit that statement is. And BTW, this was the local 'addiction specialist'. I especially agreed with your point that we as citizens and people should be able to make our own informed decisions based on what we know. It's so frustrating not being able to just go to a doctor and tell them what you want, or need. They either feel entitled to control or fear losing their licenses. It's such a crock of shit. I feel like society hasn't adapted to the fact we live in an 'information age'. Literally anyone (of proper mental capacity) can learn anything. Certain knowledge that used to be valued is now public and available to literally almost anyone, at least here in America.
I pay taxes, I work, I do my fucking duties as a citizen even though I don't necessarily want to; I should be able to live my private life as I see fit, even if that's as an opiate addict. The way I see it, each and every fucking one of us has a crutch. As long as you don't use your crutch to beat on people, it shouldn't be taken away from you. Alienating certain people and using scapegoats only serves to create crime and violence, which is probably what they really want anyway, but I digress.
Anyway, I don't want to hijack OP's thread anymore and I hope OP is hangin in and doin alright.