Dopesick : dealers, doctors, and the drug company that addicted America / Beth Macy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Macy, Beth, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Opioid abuse--United States.

Opioid abuse.

Medication abuse--United States.

Medication abuse.

Oxycodone abuse.

United States.

Oxycodone.

Oxycodone abuse--United States.

Physical Description:

vi, 376 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Dealers, doctors, and the drug company that addicted America

Dope sick

Place of Publication:

New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2018.

Summary:

Chronicles America's more than twenty-year struggle with opioid addiction, from the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, through the spread of addiction in distressed communities in Central Appalachia, to the current national crisis.

Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, journalist Beth Macy endeavors to answer a grieving mother's question -- why her only son died -- and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy parses how America embraced a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm. The unemployed use painkillers both to numb the pain of joblessness and pay their bills, while privileged teens trade pills in cul-de-sacs, and even high school standouts fall prey to prostitution, jail, and death. Through unsparing, yet deeply human portraits of the families and first responders struggling to ameliorate this epidemic, each facet of the crisis comes into focus.

Contents:

Part one: The People v. Purdue. The United States of Amnesia ; Swag 'n' Dash ; Message board memorial ; "The corporation feels no pain"

Part two: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. Suburban sprawl ; "Like shooting Jesus" ; FUBI ; "Shit don't stop"

Part three: "A broken system." Whac-a-mole ; Liminality ; Hope on a spreadsheet ; "Brother, wrong or right" ; Outcasts and inroads

Epilogue: Soldier's Disease.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-363) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Miller Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9780316551243

0316551244

OCLC:

1043454094