Respectfully, this is not always true whatsoever about being able to just sleep off or drink off opiate withdrawal. Take this from personal experience in this area.
I would say I think I do get your point though, in terms of how fast the peak be duration is for crack/coaching vs opiates/Oxys. IMO the desperation one feels with smoking crack cocaine for example can start coming within minutes of the last hit, whereas often the opiate user may have hours before their desperation starts really ramping up. Also, Crack pushes users more to a dark underbelly of society as it is obviously imo extra stigmatized, (and always illegal) and involves having to be away from people to use it and hide its use. So I do find that the lifestyle itself can pull people in a more obvious way to the point of no return vs a pill abuser who can be more discreet by far when using.
However opiate withdrawal does not just go away on its own and it is extremely physically and psychologically addictive.
I have personally known previously outstanding people getting into opiate pills eg. doctors, nurses, end up stealing from patients, Using at work, lying and committing fraud, or getting to the point where they never had a speeding ticket but find themselves seriously contemplating robbing a pharmacy for a fix. Complete desperation.....
Sorry if too off topic, I'm behind on threads and just thought I'd give respond to OPs post
IMO