Dudelsack, Not everyone should use opiates. And Tramadol is close enough to be one. For example if you like them TOO MUCH. And if you lived long in Cambodia which was in the 1990s a pharmaceutical candystore of OTC like India I am told still is. I spent a bit too many years trying to deal with insomnia by drugging anxiety in the dullness of narcotics, soporiphics, hypnotics and anti-seizure meds to say - not for me. I can't speak for others. My small 'l' libertarian ideals have been seasoned into a somewhat controlled marketplace when I see the downside. Over the counter Tramadol? I think it's a mistake. The pusherman Korean doctor suggested I stock up while here - without considering the strict laws in Thailand about non-prescription 'importation' into that Kingdom or what questions in might raise at US Customs etc.
But, of course you meant prescribed appropriately and used judiciously.