why won't they make opiate medications over the counter in the USA?

Answer 1

Because, when used incorrectly, they kill you.
All opiates cause respiratory depression. When you take enough of them, you stop breathing. Oops.

There are a LOT of people out there who would love the chance to abuse opiates. We need to try to protect the idiots form themselves.

Answer 2

problematic.

when opiates were sold over the counter (laudanum, tincture of opium etc) and people used it to dose their children (and adults) against the pain of toothache (then a very serious problem) too many children - as well as numerous adults - died.

Nowadays such medicaments are controlled very tightly. But one has to say that the US really overreacts, especially in being so up in arms about pain relief. The gateway theory now has had a fair bit of substantiation; with its acceptance comes the knowledge that pain, if properly and aggressively treated, will be less intense and of shorter duration.

So the injunctions against "drug use" actually work very much against pain management.

KEEP IN MIND: one's brain produces natural opiates, named endorphines. these help mediate pain. their problem, however, is that not every brain is equally efficient in making sufficient high-quality endorphines thus giving variable levels of pain control. (running distance is a good method of spurring the brain into this action)

And not everyone reacts in like manner to the same dose of an opiate. Some people are slow metabolizers, some fast, with varying effects.

Answer 3

Because opiate is a very addictive drug, if they do that they might as well sell crack too. Although alcohol and cigarettes are addicting to but that is an another story.

Answer 4

Probably because Opiates are a controlled substance.. Hmm..

Answer 5

Because opium is illegal. People are constantly overdosing from the prescription opiates, codeine and morphine, the synthetic opiates, like hydrocodone, and, obviously, the illegal synthetic opiates, like heroin.

Answer 6

Simple.

The FDA is controlled by the big drug companies.

They let cigarettes, and alcohol sell legally because they get paid off. Cigs are so deadly yet you can buy them at almost any store.
You'd think they make them illegal like pot or crack. Nope, they don't want to lose that under the table money.

Answer 7

The U.S. government started controlling drugs about 100 years ago. If they made them legal then they would put millions of police, judges, lawyers, prison guards out of work.

Answer 8

They don't want us to feel good. They just want us to be the miserable hive minders that we are.