Dopesick, the opioid epidemic in the United States in detail

Dopesick: story of an addiction It is an eight-episode miniseries approximately 60 minutes long. It tells the story of the opioid epidemic in the United States like no documentary, film or series has ever done before.

With great narrative quality and consistent dramatic performances, this series does not disappoint. It is inspired by real events with truly dramatic consequences in the United States.

It portrays the absolute evil of a family of millionaires and philanthropists. Parallel to this, gives voice to the stories of absolute destruction of patients who were turned into addicts.

A drug that is sold as the solution to chronic pain for millions of users ends up becoming the worst public health epidemic the United States has ever had to face. A painfully real and current fiction series.

Dopesick: the story of a legal poisoning

The miniseries Dopesick is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Beth Macy. During its development, it examines the terrible causes and effects of the opioid crisis unleashed across much of the United States by Purdue Pharma.

Its flagship product was called a “non-addictive” opioid pain reliever called OxyContin. Fictionalized details, but telling an objectively correct story, Dopesick It is a powerful illustration of the power of business when legislation fails to play its role.: protect the rights of the vulnerable.

How did they pass off an opioid painkiller as a non-addictive medication?

The story behind OxyContin is that of Purdue Pharma and its sociopathic owners: the Sackler family. A family with disproportionate power in the pharmaceutical industry.

The promoter of the OxyContin campaign was Richard Sackler (Michael Stuhlbarg). This made the drug palatable for broader patient use to replace a lucrative company patent that was about to run out.

Richard learned all the lessons from his uncle Arthur Sackler’s business playbook. In 1960, the pharmaceutical giant Roche commissioned him to develop a campaign marketing for his anti-anxiety medication, the famous Valium.

Although its effects were practically the same as those of its other products, such as Librium; Arthur invented the idea of ​​“psychic tension” as a specific condition that only the anxiolytic Valium could cure.

That is, the Sackler family He invented diseases or syndromes, passed off his medications as the cure for them and also added better properties to them., even if they contained the same active ingredient. With an aggressive and deceptive commercial campaign, they managed to convince doctors and hospitals that their drugs were better for patients.

The OxyContin “revolution”

For Richard Sackler, the ambition to make OxyContin successful has mainly to do with the need to surpass his relatives in their achievements and ambitions.

He not only wanted to market the medicine at the state level, but also He wanted to make it a global success. To do this, he defended that the opioid medication had an addiction rate of less than 1% among its users. This oxycodone medication was coated in a slow-release coating that supposedly provided 12 hours of relief without a “high.” In this way, its addictive power was limited.

Furthermore, Americans were finally promised the hope of living without pain. There was nothing to distrust this fact because the FDA labeled it as safe. The boss who did it left a year later to work at Purdue for $400,000 a year.

When the effects of the medication do not last 12 hours, The discomfort of the patients was renamed “breakthrough pain” and the solution advocated by the manufacturers was to double the dose.. The addiction was already prescribed, it was only a matter of time to take some tablets before the worst misfortune for the patients and their surroundings would take place.

The heartbreaking story of patients turned addicts

What makes it totally different from Dopesick other series and documentaries is its ability to show us the addictive and destructive capacity of opiates in any type of patient. This is demonstrated in the character of Samuel Finnix, played by Michael Keaton.

In what appears to be a statement at a trial, the doctor is devastated by the lives that have been cut short forever because of his prescription. Nothing suggests, given his unwavering appearance as an exemplary doctor in his community, that Samuel is going to be one of the main victims of OxyContin.

On the other hand, Billy Cutler (Will Poulter) is a young and impatient Purdue Pharma representative who convinces Dr. Finnix to start treatment with some patients who suffer from chronic pain due to blows and work accidents.

The first OxyContyn prescription will go to Betsy (Kaitlyn Dever), who works in the mines with her father and suffers a back injury. She can’t afford to miss work. Additionally, Betsy is a lesbian and needs to save to live with her girlfriend in a place more welcoming to the LQTBIQ+ community.

As you become dependent on OxyContin, Betsy’s story reflects the destruction of entire geographical areas due to the effect of the medication. Entire towns devastated by citizen insecurity, robberies, school and work absenteeism that add to the already pressing problems of unemployment and poverty.

The nightmare that still continues

The responsibilities of the Sackler family are tried to be judged in the series through the actions of two assistant federal prosecutors and the deputy director of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Bridget Meyer (Rosario Dawson). Thanks to her actions, we come to understand the corrupt behavior of people who work in American public institutions.

Gaps in the legislation are what allow Drug Administration (FDA) regulators to work for companies they previously regulated. We also see how the strategy of marketing from Purdue changed attitudes toward pain and pain management among the general public and the medical profession without any official agency intervening.

In the present and in real life no real punishment weighs on them. The family has evaded any legal or financial responsibility. A judge approved a bankruptcy plan for Purdue that will give the Sacklers broad legal immunity, allowing them to keep much of their fortune.

Opioids have killed 600,000 Americans and the Sacklers have profited from it. Danny Strong, executive producer and writer of Dopesick, wants to hold the public trial that the family never had through the series. And certainly, this one succeeds.

After seeing such egregious and shocking behavior and how government institutions failed, the public can only feel indescribable disgust for this “successful” family and deep empathy for all those affected.

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