Sorry for your loss. I really feel for the children involved.
I had both shoulder joints replaced after four shoulder repair surgeries. Was prescribed oxycodone as well as morphine after first replacement surgery. Had real bad experiences after the first shoulder replacement, wont go into details. Thought I was going to have to get professional help to get off the oxy, scared me bad.
Waited a year for the second shoulder replacement. Wasn't afraid of the surgery but the thought of the oxy scared me bad. about three days after the surgery was having the same problems. I went cold turkey with the oxy, nurse told me most people cant do it but I did. Dealing with the extreme pain was a trade off I was willing to take. Used a ton of ice and Tylenol to get me through the next two weeks.
I flushed a bunch of that crap down my septic system. Knew for sure nobody would get it by doing that.
I had cancer surgery about 3 years ago and told the doc I didn't want anything resembling that crap for pain. Its better to suffer through the best you can and stay away from that stuff.
My wife was a saint dealing with me and that stuff. It put her thru a lot of misery also.
There are other options for pain. There is no perfect pain killer, you got to deal with some discomfort.
I've been there and done it plus I have more ahead of me with this cancer.
Just my two cents.

Sadly this has affected or touched nearly everyone in the United States, including myself.

Believe it or not there are legitimate doctors prescribing legitimate pain medication and even other legitimate medication to legitimate patients suffering from legitimate pain and other legitimate medical conditions.

Many self-righteous opinions are uninformed generalizations and do not apply to individual people or situations.

I've used the stuff, following various surgeries, and when I didn't overdo them I could function at a high level. For medical reasons, I can't take Advil or aspirin, and Tylenol doesn't always cut it for me.

I didn't have much trouble quitting by tapering off, but if you quit cold turkey, you have my sympathy.

These painkillers have valid medical functions.

Jim

I went to the doctor for a suspected broken wrist one time. X-rays showed it was just a bad sprain. I asked the doctor for some pain pills because the pain was keeping me awake at night and I couldn't sleep. I just wanted something to kill the pain long enough the allow me to get to sleep for a couple of nights. The doctor looked at me suspiciously when I asked for the pain meds. But he went ahead and wrote a prescription for vicodin. The pharmacist filled the order for a 30-day supply of pain pills. Holy Crap! I was only wanting 2-3 pills - 5 tops! I asked her to cut down the number of pills because I didn't want to pay for something I wasn't going to use.

I couldn't believe how much they overprescribed a narcotic pain killer for a guy who just wanted to numb the pain for a couple of hours so he could get some sleep. That didn't seem responsible to me - especially after the doctor was clearly suspicious.

I wouldn't be afraid to use a narcotic pain medication in certain circumstances. I think I know the dangers well enough to be VERY careful with them. You can get hooked on them so easily. Many people use them very successfully. But you darn sure better be very careful and watch yourself.