I get what you're saying, but based on what you're saying I'm willing to bet money you don't have a condition that's causing you constant pain.
I've had a pinched nerve in my neck for the past few months and it's completely turned my life upside down. If I don't have 50mg of codeine in my system every 3 hours it feels like someone is taking a redhot cheese grater to the back of my left arm and the top of my hand. It's the kind of pain that almost puts me on my knees at times. I can't walk because holding my head up straight pinches the nerve and aggravates the pain even more. I can't even hold my head straight long enough to shave my face. I can't play with my kids, I can't work, I can't even shit properly because I have to sit upright to use a toilet. Guess what codeine does? It makes that all go away. I can actually walk, I can actually play with my kids, and I can actually take a dignified shit on my toilet. It isn't about the "easy way out" so much as, you know, the fact that pain can and will stop your life dead in its fuckin tracks and there's no mind-over-matter david goggins kind of shit you're going to pull on yourself that's going to get you out of that situation. It's definitely not as cut and dry as you've painted it to be. That is a major part of the problem altogether - people are fucked without drugs like these.