[dguest]

A bartender mocked my brother for getting Aspirin for his broken arm.

"man you got nothin', you should get some oxy for that!"

I'd been living outside the US and this in my first few hours back on US soil. A few hours later my friend (working in criminal defense) explained how opiates accounted for roughly 1/3rd of his income (other sources: drunk driving and domestic abuse). They all followed the same trajectory: minor condition -> prescribed oxy -> illegally obtained oxy -> heroin when the money ran out.

This wasn't normal. It didn't happen anywhere else in the world at the time, or at least not where I was living.