Based on some rudimentary research that I did, it seems that a typical addict (of heroin or cocaine) needs about $10,000 per year to buy illegal drugs.  In most cases they have only two ways of getting that money: prostitution or theft.  I understand that  a fence will only give a thief about 10% of the value of a stolen article so the addict needs to steal about $100,000 worth of goods a year to get the funds to buy drugs.  That is a lot of theft, a lot of stress on the victims, a lot of work for the police and a big hit on the insurance industry.  It would be far cheaper for society to provide registered drug addicts with free drugs.  Forget about morality and rehabilitation: this is about money.  Free drugs will save money.

As far as users of fentanyl are concerned, it looks like this is a problem that will shortly solve itself.  All of the users will be dead.  

I find that my sympathies are with the first-responders who have to deal with the problem and not with the drug addicts.