Unfortunately there are Docs that handed them out like Pez candy.
Pushed by drug reps nonetheless - the US and New Zealand are one of the few countries who have direct to consumer drug marketing as well as roving sales reps for drugs. Lots of drugs when they are brand new(as well as DME/wheelchairs, etc) are priced on the assumption insurance will cover the cost. With the rise of HDHPs and the uninsured, many will forgo meds and treatment.
Opiates weren’t DTC marketed until OxyContin came out. Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Pharmaceutica also marketed Duragesic directly - if not by name, it was an ad for pain treatment in magazines with certain demographics - seniors and people in end-stage cancer especially. However, the pharmaceutical industry until the 1980s were pushing amphetamines, opiates, barbiturates and benzodiazepines like candy - even meth was prescribed for weight loss. But doctors didn’t know how addictive they were. Quaaludes, anyone?
The local bars have been keeping Narcan behind the bar, and lately some have test kits in the bathroom. Drug dealers have been lacing heroin with fentanyl - the “good stuff” drives sales for them - but it’s like the most recent d-Con ads where the voice over says “D-Con, so good, mice will die for it”. I’m all for harm reduction but the answer to solve the opioid crisis is complex and might not be a savory solution for some. I do remember seeing a SFPD cop try to revive a homeless person who ODed. 20 minutes later when I rode past the scene to get back to work, he was in a body bag and the coroner was on the scene.