Conservative Paranoia about Pain Killers....

FLASH! There's a huge increase in sales of a highly addictive narcotic so common you can get it just about anywhere! It causes hundreds of thousands of deaths every year in horrific ways. It wrecks health, families, our whole social structure and there is little done to help those who (in the millions!) abuse it. 
This includes kids as young as 7-9 who get easy access to it in their homes and the homes of friends. Policing its use and abuse is impossible, especially since it is so common, so available & so accepted. And it is used for all manner of reasons, from pain and anti-depression "medication" to a social and sexual stimulant to peer induced experimentation, often with deadly results! 
Like other drugs so prevalent in American society, their Primary Purpose is Money! Drugs (and War) are real examples of "Supply Side Economics" at work. The Suppliers control the market, the distribution, prices, the media, most of the research, the laws and those who make them...as with all drugs. But this one in particular is far more dangerous, deadly, prevalent, inexpensive, available, accepted and pandered on TV and ads everywhere... to the point that few Americans even consider it harmful and have defended its widespread use an abuse as "heroically American".
And, unlike prescription pain killers (which the "Right" has its panties in such a twist about right now) there is no real medical reason for anyone to use this highly addictive substance. Many people, especially the elderly, may live without prescription pain killers but their "practical functioning" and "quality of life" do depend on the relief that other pain killers do not offer.
But you must have guessed by now that the outrageously dangerous narcotic substance i'm talking about here is... Alcohol. Of course. Besides the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused directly by its physical effects on the human body.... this substance causes hundreds of thousands more in auto and machinery accidents, suicides and homicides, violence against others and increases in other criminal activities as a result of the lowering of inhibitions and the mental confusion caused by its use. 
And studies repeatedly show that "men in high places", leadership positions in business and government!, score higher than average in the abuse of alcohol. (Senator John Boehner is a prime example, though with a lot of company!) The fact that those men in those positions are making decisions that effect the lives of Everyone in this country and millions abroad under the influence of a seriously mind-altering substance (often mixed with prescriptions and pain killers!) is without doubt a strong reason our nation and our world is such terrible shape now! 
(Numerous studies for decades have shown that "conservative men" are much more prone to alcohol abuse than are their more "liberal" counterparts. All you need to do to inspect this for yourself is to study the history of the "movers and shakers" in the US Congress since its inception. There is innumerable historical evidence noting the strong relationship between "excessive" alcohol use among "conservative" law makers.)
I could, of course, also be talking about Tobacco here. Especially in this country. The World Health Organization has recently released a report noting that "American Blend" tobacco... blended from various "varieties" of tobacco plus added nicotine, salt peter, and a host of other strange "agents" that all add to addictive qualities... used in American cigarettes & other products for American consumption, have far higher amounts of cancer causing/health endangering substances than "Blends" of tobacco produced and used any place else in the world, including Third World nations. You think maybe Tobacco companies really want Americans to get highly addicted to their products? Hmmm.
In 2009, over 800,000 American smokers died of tobacco related illness (a number just recently published in the Oregonian). That number is judged to be much lower than the reality because many such deaths aren't assigned to tobacco use, though that is what caused them. And this doesn't even try to count deaths from second hand smoke. Also, American cigarettes are known to be much more addictive than even heroin or other opiates and much harder to quit!
The point here is: Which is more dangerous, causes more deaths and disease, is more widely used and easily available, and so socially acceptable we can't even imagine it being listed as a "controlled substance", though it is far and away more destructive than all of those put together?... Certainly more so than prescription pain killers that have a very serous medical need and are controlled much more strenuously.
Take your pick or just include both, Alcohol and Tobacco. Though you won't see Conservatives running around like chickens-with-their-heads-cut-off over these two Drugs. Especially under Senator Boehner's watch. (He smokes and drinks, a Lot!) 
I rather think that the the cabal of Money-Men and their Republicon allies are figuring out how they make Ever Bigger Profits by getting prescription pain killers listed as "Dangerous Drugs"! 
"Oh, golly-gee-whiz, the sky is falling, Henny Penny! Lordy mercy me! We must do something strenuous immediately to remedy this pressing catastrophe! If you will." (-my Parody of "Rummy" Rumsfeld and/or Dick Cheney, speaking of alcohol abuse.)