Thank you, Danny.

Yes, things have gotten a bit better, at least for me, and at least for now.

It seems the pharmacy I was using had only one interest from the day they opened at the peak of the oxy OD crisis; profits at any cost to the innocent. Changing pharmacies has helped for now., but has cost me some permanent level of pain reduction, which may continue to increase. (But I'm grateful to be alive, and reduction is far less than the >80% inflicted upon me previously.)

Unfortunately, this not terribly different from the DEA policy I describe, and people already suffering continue to die.

Unfortunately, the pharmacy I've switched to refuses to us the safeguards of a computerized system, and is rife with errors. (Still, even this is better than the suffering I was dealing with.)

I still use kratom most days, and my mother uses it every day, so I have to say there have been positive personal results, though at great social cost to so very many.

And meeting you was the part of the experience that I most value.