“Veterinarians get roped in on the issue because they have access to a wide range of meds that can and do get diverted and misused.”
This is the issue we are facing and fighting right now. Of course I am completely aware that there are bad apples in any group, but by and large DVM’s don’t keep, use, or dispense the opioids that are at issue in human abuse. If a Vet ordered most any of the human opioids, I would expect a big red flag to go up at DEA. Having “access” and actually dispensing those drugs are two completely different things.
With a few exceptions, vet and human drugs are the same. The opioids routinely used in veterinary practice may have packaging restrictions and warnings limiting them to animal use only, but, chemically, they are the same and usually come from the same productions lines as opioids packaged for human use.