[14]

From my understanding, this company lied about the effects of the drug. That is the problem. If they would have said "hey we have a great drug that completely dopes a patient up and works like magic to block pain, BUT only give it for one or two days OR ELSE they will become addicted" then we would not be here now debating this. Instead what they told doctors was that the drug was safe at the recommended prescription levels which was not true.

[WorldMaker]

A direct comparison is to the tobacco industry. Tobacco sales still remain legal in most of the country, but for multiple reasons there's been huge restrictions on how and where and to whom (no marketing to minors/kids) tobacco companies can market. Tobacco products have to be marked with big addiction warnings, and very visible reminders of side effects. Tobacco products also generally have taxes collected specifically to directly finance anti-addiction resources in many states.

Legally selling the drug is orthogonal from morally/ethically dealing with the consequences of the drug, including regulating how it is sold, how it is marketed, how it deals with its own consequences.