NHS is creating drug addicts

"A drugs counsellor and former user told the BBC the NHS was `creating drug addicts`."

"The Royal College of GPs said doctors would not prescribe opioid painkillers as a `quick fix`."

"Opioids such as morphine, tramadol and fentanyl are super-strength painkillers, which can be highly addictive and can kill if misused."

"An investigation by BBC News has found:
More than two million working age people in England are estimated to have taken a prescription painkiller that was not prescribed for them in 2016-17.

GPs in England prescribed 23.8 million opioid-based painkillers in 2017, the equivalent of 2,700 items every hour.

This was 10 million more prescriptions than in 2007.
The prescribing rate of opioid painkillers in parts of northern England is four times higher than in London." "The latest figures show the number of people dying from opioid-related drug misuse has reached a record high in England and Wales. About 3,700 people died in 2016 because of drug misuse."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43304375

This problem has reached epidemic proportions in the United States: