“They say cutting off access to prescription painkillers could lead some patients to seek opioids by any means necessary — or even turn to heroin, which is often tainted with deadly forms of illicit fentanyl. Other patients, they say, could endure the return of once-debilitating pain. Some could die from suicide.” Stat: In radical move, Oregon’s Medicaid program weighs cutting off chronic pain patients from opioids. Purdue Pharma knowingly flooded the market with an addictive product, doctors overprescribed the medication, the government failed to protect patients, and drug cartels capitalized on the scourge by flooding the market with heroin. So here’s a great idea for a solution: Let’s punish those who are suffering from debilitating chronic pain.