Psychoactive drugs

          In the last quarter of the 19th century the typical morphine addict was a respectable middle to upper class member of society. These people usually developed their addiction through a physician who prescribed morphine to treat the pain of some ailment. Today, the US is in the middle of an epidemic of opioid analgesic addiction with many turning to the illicit heroin/fentanyl market when physicians cut off prescribing opioids to patients that have become dependent. What lessons can we learn from the 19th century morphine epidemic to inform our current epidemic of opioid use? Why do you think the largest US drug problem since the poly drug use of the 60s and 70s has not motivated any demand for a criminal justice crackdown as has occurred with many other less lethal drug epidemics in our history?