Dopesick(2018) Beth Macy

Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

Wow.  I thought I knew something about the opioid crisis but it turns out I had no idea. For instance, I had no notion that a drug company (Perdue Labs) had the ability to reformulate oxycontin into a form that would be more difficult to abuse but waited to do this until their patent expired on the original.

The big misconception is that you cannot get addicted if you just use narcotics for “true” pain.  That is completely wrong.  Macy makes that clear in case after case of people who are put on oxycontin after injury or surgery and cannot get off and eventually resort to heroine. Macy also spends a good deal of time dispelling the myth that abstinence is the only solution. Not a very cheerful book but if you want to learn what is happening around us this is it.