Nobody said something should not be done to prevent drug deaths; that is a straw man argument.

The point is that because of the opioid epidemic, people who have a legitimate need for prescription pain relief (for dental work, injuries, post-surgery recovery, chronic pain, etc.) are increasingly unable to get it and are forced to suffer needlessly. In 2015, 38% of the adult population received legitimate prescriptions for various kinds of opiate-derived pain meds, which the vast majority of them stop taking when the pain ends. These people do not get a "high" from opiates and will never become addicted. They would no more take a pain pill for fun than they would drink mouthwash to get drunk. Meanwhile, addicts can easily get what they want on the street, and since they're after a high, not pain relief, they'll take any opiate-based drug from heroin to fentanyl.

This is like your dentist suddenly refusing to use novocaine on you because cocaine addicts are dying.