Tara O’Neill Hayes, Ryan Manos for the American Action Forum: The fundamental problem driving the opioid crisis is abuse of both prescription opioids and the system used to obtain them. While the long-term over-prescription of opioids is now widely acknowledged by drug manufacturers, doctors and regulators, these same parties are now making efforts to curb abuse, with mixed results.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have sought in some cases to modify the addictive nature and potential for abuse of their prescription opioids. One such example comes from the creator of Opana, Endo Pharmaceuticals, which reformulated the drug in 2012 to prevent patient abuse of the drug by crushing and snorting it. The reformulation added a protective coating to the pill so that would no longer be possible. This change had an unfortunate side effect, however: It led addicted users to begin injecting the drug intravenously. Opana’s experience shows that reformulating drugs may do little to halt abuse and in some cases may result in even more dangerous behavior.