The whole point of the drug war is to have something to nail political targets anyway. The Nixon aide quote about pot and crack to get people against the war and black folks is kinda old hat by now.

Heroin and cocaine were widespread as fuck before they were made illegal. Think about all those patent medicines. People have never stopped doing drugs, but when you make something almost everyone does illegal you give cops the opportunity on who to enforce it on.

Having the “war” narrative, getting the media to air hysterical stories about crack babies and now fentanyl and demonizing anyone who sells or uses drugs, helps them justify the shiny new Bearcats that they will happily turn on us when we get sick of whatever the fuck Elon/Trump are doing.

This is not to say that opioid use is good. But opioid use is a public health issue and an issue of failing social services and not a moral/crime issue. People with substance use issues use because there are insufficient medical or mental health services, because there is no hope for improving one’s life in some situations, because it helps you tolerate things that you have to do but don’t want to do.