I won't tell you pill mills don't exist, but they are the bane of legitimate pain management and in the minority. For some patients, medication is the best/only alternative, both short and long term, but that is a decision for each patient with the guidance of their physician. Pill mills harm patients in real need because when they do get shut down, those patients get stuck with the stigma of being drug-seekers even though/when they're not.

There are many other therapies for pain management. Some pain management doctors/clinics don't/won't even write prescriptions for pain medications, and those that do often have patients sign a pain contract and submit to periodic testing to ensure compliance. Some options -- alternative medicine -- like accupuncture, myofascial trigger point massage, biofeedback, laser therapy, and others are not offered by western medicine (and may not be covered by insurance) but can be as effective, depending on the patient and the condition.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to google: pain management and learn the facts about the specialty and options available.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_management

A couple of other resources are:
http://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/
http://pain-topics.org/

I agree with Leesa to ask for a referral to pain management and take your husband along. Given his misconceptions/misinformation about pain management, I can only speculate about his misconceptions/misinformation about pain medications.
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/...killers?page=1

I'll defer to Leesa and others about healing times and physical therapy, but when the time is right, it can help with residual pain and rehab.

Doc