A decade ago, most people thought of Tylenol (acetaminophen) as a medicine for fever, malaise and minor aches and pains. Nobody imagined that it would become the go-to drug for treating moderate, let alone severe, postoperative pain. But this is just what has happened. Thanks to pressure from lawmakers, government agencies and policymakers who inserted themselves into the patient-doctor relationship, patients became the victims of the never-ending war on drugs. Now, doctors frequently offer only acetaminophen to treat painful conditions despite the drug’s inability to remedy them. Policymakers’ exaggerated fear of opioids has pressured hospitals, doctors and dentists to switch...