I know this isn't what you were saying, but, pain killers are absolutely nothing like psychedelics, for the reason the other commenter said, and many more.
Someone at work today was talking about their mother having an ulcer in her liver due to excessive pain killer use.
I once slipped on a damp metal roof while installing rural internet. That flap of skin between your index finger and thumb? Imagine cutting it with scissors. No tendons were hit, but yes it hurt (instinct traded me a deep cut instead of broken legs). That pain I heeded, but I was more concerned with the pain of potential infection that I felt a few years before after breaking hand blisters during springtime. Pollen entered and infected, waking me up in the middle of the night a few days later with throbbing, swelling, extreme pain - all I could think of was the prospect of amputation.
I value the productivity of my hands more than anything, therefore without insurance I was not going to question throwing $200 towards treatment.
The work related cut needed stitches, with anesthesia (that I had a brief reaction to - perhaps psychological since I was witnessing a needle go into my hand without feeling anything). The price tag was similar. But I was prescribed cephalexin for antibiotic... and hydrocodone for "pain". I did not fill the pain killer prescription out of principle, because of course it will hurt for a few days - a useful signal issued from the body to prompt me to pay special attention to that area during regeneration.
I have been bothered ever since - these "doctors" issuing opioids like candy for the smallest ailments (perhaps incentivized by quotas therefore personal gain).
Pain is a useful signal, and if artificially suppressed - we are missing the point and ignoring nature.
If you put your hand on a hot stove, and it hurts? Then yes, remove the hand because it did not feel good. Do not suppress the pain artificially so you can keep your hand on the hot stove.
In the eyes of NA, a drug is a drug. if you use a drug that isn't prescribed by your doctor, it is a relapse. we can go about slicing hairs all day, but the bottom line is that using a drug without being prescribed by a doctor is considered a relapse.
