Editorial: Doctors, pharmaceutical companies must be part of the fight against opioids

The opioid epidemic that we’ve been living with for much of this decade often seems like a hurricane that’s come ashore, a calamity that is an act of a vengeful God and wholly out of our hands. It’s been well understood by many observers, however, that the devastating toll prescription painkillers and heroin have exacted in recent years is a catastrophe that has its origins in old-fashioned avarice, folly and vanity.