Comments by "Comm0ut" (@Comm0ut) on "Who is flooding West Africa with opioids? | BBC News" video.

Opiates have one extremely compelling medical use for which there is no substitute, pain mitigation. Areas without accessible medical care now as in the past have no choice (quite like my late friend who was too poor for insurance and eventually OD'ed on street fentanyl which he was NOT doing for pleasure) but to do what allows people to function. That's a generally ignored but important aspect of the opiate trade. BTW my late friend deceased in upstate New York. He was in agony from getting rear-ended ended while stopped at an intersection which ruined his life (chronic pain means no useful sleep and opiates do not promote REM sleep). The problem of pain management is far more critical than recreational use by addicts, but gets near zero press coverage because it's insufficiently dramatic.
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