but even if it is for the treatment of pain, the side effects of opioids and their addictive nature are still there. And no lie, it's caused some issues. It's a worthwhile trade off for a lot of people with severe chronic pain, though.

He ended up quitting the opioids and getting a green card and going that route in WA. He's a happier and healthier person for it. Every situation is different, so i'm not pretending like that's the solution for everyone, though.

Overall I agree that people like your mom need to have access when necessary, but even then it needs to be monitored and kept in check to a degree, because treatment of pain can escalate into abuse pretty easily.

Chronic pain is a real fucker of a problem.