First of all I appreciate your post and let me say that I am sorry for th pain you are experiencing and have apparently for some time. My dad was in constant pain during the last part of his life and it was terrible.
Although I agree that the government is too heavy handed regarding regulation of some substances , marijuana and many other drugs are examples, I disagree strongly with just letting people take whatever they want and dealing with things no matter how they turn out. You must be aware of the current synthetic odiods and other substances that are ravaging the US and other parts of the world as well. if you let people take whatever they want, they will get addictions that they simply cannot let go of and there will also be many more unnecessary deaths. Additionally there will be a huge drain on society from the healthcare required by these people. I am not sure if you are aware of the cost and resources it takes to treat and care for these people. It is incredible. so to say just let it happen when these same people cannot fund their healthcare and recovery is irresponsible.
Instead what I think that you should do is to advocate for common sense changes in the law to allow substances like Kratom to be part of therapies. I currently live in Thailand and there is a Kratom problem here in the country. It is abused and is a drain on the country's resources. So there needs to be some regulation but is does seem to be a superior alternative to typical opiods. Again, if you want things to change, advocate. Or even better, do like I did because I did not like the way the Us handled so many things, move out of the country. It sounds drastic, but so does your current situation my dear. God bless you.
RE: Pain, Kratom, and the State