Dopesick

If a plane were to crash every day, wouldn’t something be done about it? A Boeing 787 can hold about 250 people. The same number of people die daily in the USA from opioids, such as painkillers like Oxycodone, Vicodin, or Fentanyl. Among those under 50, overdoses from painkillers or drugs have become the leading cause of death, surpassing gun violence and traffic accidents. Many of the addicts initially received these medications from their doctors, often after surgery or a sports injury. Once patients were introduced to these powerful substances, they found it difficult to break free. Millions of Americans have thus slipped into dependency on prescription opioids. The pharmaceutical companies that pushed these new and highly potent painkillers onto the market in the 1990s downplayed the risks of addiction. Billions in profits are at stake. Award-winning journalist and nonfiction author Beth Macy traveled across the USA, meeting addicts, affected individuals, and bereaved families, tracing their life paths and fates. On behalf of the many mothers who have lost their children, she poses the question of why. The result is a harrowing account of a dependent, numbed, and dying America.