Zabić Ból. Imperium Oszustwa i Kulisy Epidemii Opiatowej w USA

by Barry Meier, Dorota Pomadowska (Translator)

Zabic bol. Imperium oszustwa i kulisy epidemii opiatowej w USA

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Health, Medicine, Audiobook, Business

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2003

About the author

Award-winning journalist, ex-New York Times.
Author, Pain Killer, now a Netflix dramatic series, Missing Man, The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran and Spooked, the Rise of Private Spies.

Reviews

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barry Meier was the first journalist who exposed the Sackler family as the root of the opioid epidemic in Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic. I recently read Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty where it referenced Barry Meier's research and his book.....so I knew I had to read it.

One of the fascinating and scary parts of the book was that prior to 1990, pain medication was not typically used when infants or young children had surgery---there was a belief that infants didn't feel pain and that it was too dangerous to give young children pain meds. It was described as barbaric on how pediatric surgeries were performed.

According to the book, hospice care originated in the UK but it took several decades before it became established in the US...it became more mainstream in the 1990s in the US. One of the primary focuses of hospice is to help people die with dignity surrounded at home by their loved ones. Pain meds/opioids help this process.

Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic is very thoroughly researched and Meier mentions at the beginning of the book that oftentimes writers and journalists think the story is over after the book is published. But with the opioid epidemic, unfortunately the story continues.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

My ex-wife died from an Oxycontin overdose and I went through physical withdrawal from it after using heavy doses for recovery from a major car accident. I'd never read a book about the roots of the issue but the story is basically as expected. Everything about the American drug scene is driven by money whether the drugs are legal or illegal. That's the whole problem in my mind. The marketing and pushing of the drug is the sin here not the legality of the drug. If it wasn't Oxycontin it would have been something else for my ex and others. Let's treat why people want to use the drugs and control the marketing of them and let's not eliminate use and access for people who need them.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

My journey into the underworld of the opioid crisis continues. "Pain Killer" is the fifth form of content I've consumed about the man-made disaster caused by the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, and so far it's the best book I've read on the subject.

Barry Meier was one of the first national reporters to expose the growing problem of opioid abuse and overdoses. He started writing articles about the prescription drug OxyContin for The New York Times in 2001; the first edition of "Pain Killer" was published in 2003. The edition I read was an updated 2018 version, which included a new prologue and epilogue.

I've found this subject to be fascinating, infuriating, and depressing all at the same time. It wasn't just the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma who were greedy and corrupt — the FDA, the DEA, the Justice Department, members of Congress, and several U.S. Presidents also bear some blame for caving at critical moments.

A fact that really makes my blood boil is that the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma knew by 1997 that there was a growing problem of abuse and overdose deaths related to OxyContin; the drug had just been released the year before. But they did nothing to prevent it — instead they encouraged their sales reps to push doctors to prescribe higher doses. Do you know how many Americans have been killed because of opioids since then? More than 500,000. Those greedy bastards have so much blood on their hands that Richard Sackler should be known as the Angel of Death.

I would highly recommend the "Pain Killer" book if you are interested in this subject; it also inspired a dramatic series of the same name on Netflix that is worth watching. Just be ready to shake your fist at the sky.

Opening Prologue
"Within a span of thirty-six hours in Philadelphia, nine bodies had been found just blocks away from one another. Five were inside homes. Two were in cars. Two were on the street. The oldest of them was forty-two. The youngest was twenty-four. They had names but they would soon become statistics, data points consumed by a tidal wave of fatal drug overdoses sweeping across the United States. In 2016, 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. That number equals the population of cities such as Portland, Maine; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was as if, in one year, a plague had entered one of these towns and killed every single inhabitant. On an average day in 2016, 175 people died of an overdose, a rate of seven fatalities an hour. Nine deaths in thirty-six hours wasn't unusual."

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read ~2009. Amazing must-read and told anyone remotely interested to read it. Just crazy and made my headspin and left me speechless. And yet here we are the bumbling amatuers in the White House feigning concern for poor whites that incredibly voted against their own self-interest to put the Trumpista Nutters in.

Prescient book from 15 years before this epidemic opiates mess.

Read about the crooked Sackler family, raking in billions from Purdue Pharma with greedy evil methods that make the Koch Brothers seem not so bad afterall. They're GOP donors too and have funded nasty groups, one of which is also Koch linked! Ha! There you go, makes sense.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

Incredible how doctors and patients fell for it and enriched Purdue with $32bn in annual sales and made the greedy Sacklers the 19th richest family in America (or world) according to Forbes.

[Garrett Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

After already reading Empire of Pain and watching "The Crime of the Century" on HBO, I already had a fair amount of background on the opioid crisis although it's one of those broad issues that you never really get enough of. Since this book was presented as an early informer of many of the things that Empire of Pain touched on, I figured it was worth a read. Writing is concise, descriptions are powerful. The updated version is great although if you're looking for a one-and-done book on the topic, I'd probably recommend just going over to "Empire of Pain" by Patrick Radden Keefe, a phenomenally written and power account of the opioid crisis and in particular, the Sacklers role in its genesis.

Related:
"Empire of Pain" by Patrick Radden Keefe
"The Crime of the Century" by Alex Gibney (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14055432/)

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been following the story of the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma for several years, how the company and family were largely responsible for starting and then fanning the flames of the opioid epidemic. The evidence presented by Meir that undercuts their denial of any knowledge of an abuse problem with OxyContini before early in 2000 is quite damning. He wrote: "And the company knew by 1996, internal Purdue emails showed, that addicts had discovered how to defeat MS Contin's time-release formulation in order to extract morphine from a tablet so they could shoot it up." It was not a few "scattered" incidents, as Purdue officials claimed.

In late September of 2006 federal prosecutors sent a 120-page memo to John Brownlee, then the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, that contained recommendations for indictments that included three senior company executives. If convicted, the three men would have served prison time. They didn't because the investigation was aborted by senior Justice Department officials. Meir quoted the following on page 177 from the prosecutor's memo:

Had the conspirators provided Congress and their sales representatives with the truth, that is that PURDUE had been aware, at least as early as 1997-1998, that both MS Contin and OxyContin were subject to widespread abuse and diversion but continued to market OxyContin as less addictive, abusable and subject to diversion in the face of this knowledge, the sales representatives would have lost all credibility with health care providers, and PURDUE's conduct would likely have been subject to much greater regulatory and Congressional scrutiny.

Barry Meir didn't have to convince me of the family's and company's complicity in generating perhaps the largest public health crisis of the last 100 years. However he told the story (with added "Notes and Sources" for each chapter) in an easy to follow manner that leaves no room for doubt.

In a closing postscript, I found it interesting that Rudy Giuliani was brought in at such a crucial time as a crisis manager (or "fixer"?) for the Purdue legal team.

[Caya · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me as an non-american was term "opioid crisis" not fully understood for long time. I got there was some issue with misuse of legal drugs, but I was ignorant to the the sheer scale of it. This book helped me a bit in peeking under the lid of what was the root cause of the issue.

Very well written and sourced. It is especially interesting to observe how scientific works have been bent in order to market the Purdue drug product. Not for the first time, not for the last...

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well researched and well written, more like an unfolding story then a dry report. I have a very mixed reaction to this book because the author does some things very well, and I think he misses one point in a very disappointing way.
The author writes with compassion and understanding of the plight of teenagers and their families who are dealing with opiate addiction. He also writes with compassion understanding of the doctors and policymakers trying to make decisions about how to handle OxyContin and medications like it. He even writes with compassion toward people who need opiates to deal with pain caused by cancer. So it is deeply disappointing for me that he does not tell the story of someone who needs medication for severe pain caused by something other than cancer such as a spinal cord injury. In fact, from the stories he chooses to tell, it seems that he is opposed to the use of long-acting narcotics for people who have pain not caused by cancer, even if that pain is rated as severe. However, this may be my understanding of what he says. I wish I could have a conversation with him to be sure I understand where he’s coming from.
I like how he explains the feeling of being addicted, the pain of the addict as well as the family members. I respect his book for its coverage of how addiction damages a poor society.
I wish he would have used a similar tone of compassion to speak of those of us who spend most of our lives in severe pain, not by our choice, but through something like a car accident. I also wish he would explain what law abiding pain medicine users in door to prove that we are not addicts. When I go to the doctor to have my pain medication refilled, there are things I have to do to prove that I am using my medication responsibly. My urine is tested, the nurse counts any remaining pills that I have on my person, and I am asked how my pain level is and how much medication I’m taking per day. I do these things because it protects me and my doctor from any accusations of abuse. However, I don’t enjoy this feeling, this experience of having to prove myself innocent because otherwise I’m assumed to be guilty. I keep a journal, a logbook of each time I take medicine, my pain level at the time, and the moods I feel at the time. I do this in part to make sure that I don’t tip into addiction because pain medications do have a history of causing that.
I don’t think the author intended to write a book that is unbalanced. I think he tried hard to speak from many perspectives, and I respect that. Still, reading the book made me feel more isolated, more stigmatized, because he seemed to be saying that the concern for people who take drugs by choice and abuse them surpasses the needs of people who genuinely have non-cancerous pain. He seems to downplay that the people who are abusing drugs make a choice, at least at first, to put something in their bodies. I’ll grant you that they think they won’t get addicted, that it can’t happen to them, but they do know it’s wrong. I think that because they tend to hide it from their parents and other adults in their lives. I didn’t choose to be hit head on by a car who’s driver was kissing his girlfriend and not looking at the road. When he does mention back pain, he generally refers to lower back pain. He doesn’t discuss The pain and changes in abilities from damage to the spinal cord and the nerves leading away from it with crushed vertebrae and spinal cord impingement. He doesn’t tell the story of a person who loses complete use of the ligament on the left side of her neck and who has blinding migraine from pressure on the base of the brain and skull. He also doesn’t talk about how it feels for a person to be in chronic pain, sometimes very severe pain, that cannot be fixed with some Tylenol and a quick trip to a massage therapist. I have used chiropractic care, massage, and hypnosis to reduce my pain level. Finally, after eight years of pain, I started using opiate medication to control pain.
Pain relief allows me to do a lot of things I couldn’t do, so I think it is worthwhile. I feel frustrated when people put one groups needs above another’s. No, I don’t want teenagers to overdose and die. Of course I don’t. However, at least with consenting adults, I do think we need to acknowledge that they are making a choice to inject drugs. I see people demanding that all prescription narcotics be removed except for people with cancer. That might keep some teens from overdosing, but it would mean a lot of people like me would go back to being in terrible pain almost every day and night. I have been told that I should be able to handle my pain with a couple of aspirin or Tylenol. It’s as if the people who tell me this assume I haven’t tried that. They also tell me I should do acupuncture, massage, or get deep brain stimulation treatment. I would be happy to do these things if Medicaid covered them. I would be thrilled if these therapies allowed me to cut back on or even stop taking my opiate medication. Telling me to just take a little Tylenol does seem somewhat cool to me, especially since Tylenol can cause kidney and liver failure if you take it on a regular basis over a long period of time. Yet so many books like this one and articles in popular magazines seem to say that removing opiates from the market is the best strategy for everyone. That solution makes a value judgment, choosing to protect people who choose to abuse drugs but not assisting people who are in severe pain. I don’t want to see the reverse happen either. I don’t think my right to having pain relief should come at the expense of peoples lives. I think we can find solutions that meet both needs if we really try. We need compassion and understanding for both sides to make that work. This book could be very helpful in that way because of its style, except that the author doesn’t really cover the plight of a person in severe pain. It’s the only piece that’s missing. There is a way to do this. We can’t get there though if we can’t first acknowledge truths about both groups of people.

[Mandy Emery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both interesting and informative! I would definitely recommend.

[FerroN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Verso la fine degli anni Novanta, l’epidemia causata da oppioidi era già una realtà in molte zone degli Stati Uniti. L’incremento di morti per overdose e di persone dipendenti (sia malati che utilizzavano farmaci con ricetta medica sia tossicodipendenti che ne abusavano in modo inappropriato) coincise con l’immissione sul mercato nel 1996 di un narcotico denominato OxyContin.
Nelle regioni colpite la stampa locale si occupava della crisi ormai da qualche anno, tuttavia l’interesse nazionale fu suscitato dagli articoli di Barry Meier apparsi sul “The New York Times” all’inizio del 2001.
Il 9 febbraio, in collaborazione con Francis X. Clines, il giornalista pubblicò sul quotidiano “Cancer Painkillers Pose New Abuse Threat” (“Antidolorifici oncologici espongono al rischio di abuso”), un pezzo che illustrava abusi e traffici illeciti in molte regioni – una situazione drammatica in termini sanitari e sociali. Poco dopo, Meier e la collega Melody Peterson si occuparono della retata antidroga in cui furono arrestate oltre duecento persone per possesso o vendita illegali di OxyContin: era il 1° marzo 2001, e da quel momento l’epidemia divenne notizia da prime pagine nazionali.
Nel corso dell’anno il “Times” continuò a pubblicare articoli sull’argomento ignorando le rimostranze e l’indignazione di Purdue Pharma (il produttore di OxyContin); ma quando, nel 2003, uscì il libro di Meier “Pain Killer: A «Wonder» Drug’s Trail of Addiction and Death”, la redazione del quotidiano cambiò improvvisamente atteggiamento – la testata stava subendo una crisi di credibilità a causa del comportamento gravemente scorretto di un altro reporter – informando l’autore che non avrebbe più proseguito con la stampa delle sue inchieste.

Dopo essere finito fuori catalogo, “Pain Killer” è tornato disponibile in una nuova edizione aggiornata al 2018.
La cronaca dei primi anni di emergenza, durante i quali medici di base, autorità e forze dell’ordine locali tentavano inutilmente contrastare il diffondersi dell’epidemia, è arricchita dal punto di vista di tre persone che ne furono direttamente coinvolte:
- Art Van Zee, medico di una cittadina rurale della Virginia occidentale, che assiste con crescente preoccupazione a una situazione che sta sfuggendo di mano; per non recare danno ai malati oncologici ritiene che OxyContin non debba essere ritirato dal mercato, ma si dà da fare in tutti i modi affinché Purdue Pharma modifichi la propria strategia di marketing e la composizione chimica del farmaco.
- Lindsay Myers, studentessa appartenente a una delle famiglie più ricche della zona, al secondo anno presso la Lee County High School e capitana delle cheerleader della squadra di football della scuola, che prova il narcotico a sedici anni a scopo ricreativo e si trova ben presto preda di una dipendenza rovinosa.
- Laura Nagel, agente della DEA promossa nel 2000 a capo dell’Ufficio Vigilanza sulla Diversione, la quale, pur contraria anche lei al ritiro di OxyContin, intraprende subito una lotta contro le resistenze della sua agenzia (e lo scarso interesse della FDA) per mettere l’industria farmaceutica di fronte alle proprie responsabilità.
Purtroppo nel corso della narrazione le vicende di Art, Lindsay e Laura sfumano perdendosi nell’evoluzione della cronaca con le rivelazioni successive alla prima edizione del libro; è probabile che nel frattempo la loro esperienza con OxyContin e l’epidemia si sia conclusa, ma non è dato sapere (in ogni caso l’autore li ricorda nella pagina dedicata ai ringraziamenti, sostenendo che senza la loro partecipazione e pazienza “questo libro non sarebbe mai stato scritto”).

Una delle cause dell’epidemia è individuata nelle informazioni scorrette (o non suffragate da prove scientifiche) contenute nel foglietto illustrativo di OxyContin, colpevolmente approvate dall’ente federale preposto (FDA), vale a dire l’affermazione che il prodotto avesse una minore capacità di creare dipendenza.
Inoltre, e diversamente da quanto affermato dal produttore, il farmaco in realtà non era molto diverso da altri antidolorifici oppioidi in commercio: infatti, la reclamizzata cessione graduale del principio attivo fu subito neutralizzata da molti utilizzatori, che avevano imparato a frantumare le compresse per sniffarle o scioglierle per iniettarsele (un procedimento già sperimentato dai consumatori col prodotto precursore, MS Contin, e ben conosciuto dai vertici della casa farmaceutica nonostante i continui dinieghi).
Un’altra tesi sostenuta dall’autore è quella che OxyContin – che se non fu l’unico responsabile della crisi vi ebbe certamente un ruolo di primo piano – non avrebbe avuto un tale successo se alla sua immissione sul mercato non avesse trovato un ambiente favorevole, un terreno preparato da decenni di campagne pubblicitarie mirate a stravolgere il concetto di lotta al dolore da parte delle aziende di settore appartenenti al variegato impero della famiglia Sackler.

A tale scopo è riassunto nel libro il lavoro del giornalista John Lear, che tra il 1959 e il 1962 su “The Saturday Review” pubblicò inchieste che mettevano in evidenza la crescente interdipendenza tra produzione e promozione dei farmaci – e ne auspicavano un controllo e una regolamentazione. Lear indagò anche sul conflitto d’interessi nelle varie attività dei fratelli Sackler ma non riuscì mai trovarne le prove (quarant’anni dopo le evidenze processuali avrebbero dimostrato che aveva ragione). E Meier gliene rende merito: “I suoi articoli […] sull’industria farmaceutica sono ormai un classico e dovrebbero essere letti da ogni giornalista e in ogni corso di educazione civica. Uno dei vantaggi di aver lavorato a questo libro è stato la possibilità di scoprirli.”
Secondo l’autore, un testo fondamentale per inquadrare l’opera di preparazione dei medici e delle masse al consumo di narcotici è “The American Connection” di John Pekkanen (1973), di cui viene citato un estratto illuminante:
“Tutta la campagna dell’industria farmaceutica negli anni Sessanta per i farmaci che agiscono sul tono dell’umore mirava a dilatare fino all’assurdo la definizione della malattia, arrivando a includere ogni nervosismo, ogni seccatura, ogni sia pur vago problema si incontra nella vita quotidiana. Ognuno di noi era un candidato pronto a diventare un consumatore.
[…] La campagna pubblicitaria sulle riviste mediche puntava a coprire qualsiasi problema potesse essere riportato al dottore durante una visita: tensione, ansia, spasmi muscolari, perfino una situazione chiamata «intervalli», definita come quello stato d’ansia in cui ci si chiede cosa di male possa accadere in futuro. Tachicardia, prostrazione, dispnea, irregolarità mestruali, vampate, timore e depressione erano tutti candidati ideali per l’assunzione di tranquillanti, stimolanti, sedativi o antidepressivi, o tutti quanti.
C’era una soluzione chimica per ogni cosa.”

Se le autorità preposte avessero prestato maggiore attenzione agli interrogativi suscitati da più parti è molto probabile che gli oppioidi sarebbero stati utilizzati soltanto da chi ne avesse avuto realmente la necessità e milioni di persone non sarebbero decedute o rimaste intrappolate nella dipendenza.
Ma John Lear e John Pekkanen facevano parte di un ristretto novero di persone che si trovò a sfidare una potenza farmaceutica; il loro lavoro fu facilmente reso ininfluente e inutile.
E così un entusiasta Raymond Sackler, uno dei fondatori dell’impero finanziario proprietario di Purdue Pharma, poté dichiarare:
«OxyContin è il nostro biglietto per la luna.»

[Maison Koala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inchiesta giornalistica scrupolosa e dettagliatissima ma...ho preferito la miniserie omonima made in Netflix.

Il saggio s'addentra con dovizia di numeri, date e particolari nella genesi dell'epidemia di morti più tragica della storia degli Stati Uniti, quella innescata dall'abuso dell'antidolorifico OxyContin, i cui effetti collaterali sono da un lato l'aver fatto ricca la casa farmaceutica Purdue Pharma ("L'impero del dolore" di Patrick Raddan Keefe, altra gran bella lettura, ne ripercorre fasti e caduta) e dall'altro l'innescare nei consumatori assuefazione e dunque dipendenza in tempi record.

La serie TV ha secondo me il plus che per un non addetto i lavori come la qui scrivente, la crisi degli oppioidi è riproposta in forma romanzata; coinvolge di più perché ha di suo una regia accattivante che mette in scena l'avidità di magnati d'impresa (famaceutica) senza scrupoli e medici altrettanto spegiudicati, giornalisti agguerriti a caccia della verità, vittime e famiglie impotenti devastate per sempre dall'OxyContin.

Insomma, uno dei rari casi in cui la resa su schermo è quasi meglio dell'originale cartaceo - e non per nulla Painkiller, su Netflix, è stato nella top ten dei documentari più visti al di là e al di qua dell'Oceano.

Giudizio tecnico finale: dà assuefazione.

[Renata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I didn’t learn anything new since The Empire of Pain was so amazing, I continue to be obsessed with this topic and how the entire establishment (government agencies and regulatory bodies, medical profession, law enforcement) failed the American public. This tragedy will have a very long “tail” I fear.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way back in the '60s, I and everybody I knew, was aware that opium/morphine/heroin was bad mojo, addictive, you're gonna die! This is a depressing book about how a drug company, greedy beyond belief, spun a web of lies about those same opiates and addicted a shitload of people. Did they do it all by themselves? Nope, they had help from greedy, uninterested or just plain ignorant doctors more interested in churning through patients than curing them. Oh, and let's not forget the "regulators" and elected representatives. It does make you wonder just how much shit we are being fed regarding Covid-19 in the name of profits, doesn't it!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick summary of the opioid crisis in much fewer words than Empire of Pain. Would highly recommend if you don’t have as much time to read through that.

[Saige · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really admire that Meier released an updated version of this book after so many new documents were released from the Purdue case. It's so frustrating for me that this information sat around for YEARS, buried by the DOJ because Purdue was able to throw cash and lawyers at the issue until it (mostly) went away. History shows that fines aren't enough. If the cost of breaking the law is money only, then mega-corporations are effectively placed above the law. Too bad the original Sackler brothers all passed away before we could throw them in jail.

As far as the book itself, Meier is a wonderful writer. He presents all the facts clearly and narratively, making this non-fiction text easy to read and understand. He also places all his sources at the back of the book, which I far prefer to non-fiction writers who bog down the main text with footnotes. This is just the right book for getting information out to the laymen all over the country impacted by Purdue's negligence, and for explaining some of the legal/governmental details that kept the truth in the dark for so long.

[Dennis Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic by Barry Meier, the third of three books I’ve read that focus on the opioid crisis; the others are Dopesick:Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy and Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones. Each of the books gives a comprehensive look at the causes and personal devastation from opiate addiction with the same basic cast of characters at the core. Pain Killer puts the most detail against Perdue Pharma the company that created Oxycontin and the legitimate pain market they claimed to be chasing. It is truly a tale of corporate and personal greed. Dopesick has a particular slant on the physiological and psychological impact of abusing opiates. Dreamland describes in detail the sales & marketing strategies of the Mexican Drug cartel, using cheap heroin often laced with fentanyl as a substitute for Oxycontin as black market pricing escalated. It is no wonder this perfect storm devastated so many families.I strongly recommend these three books if you want a good understanding of the opiate crisis.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A damning, upsetting expose into Purdue Pharma, the company that created and promoted OxyContin single handedly catalyzing the opioid crisis in the US, one of the worst, and most preventable public health crises in recent history.

It is an updated 2018 version from its original publishing in 2003, so the info pre 2003 is much more thorough than the updates from the last 15 years which was disappointing. I’m still not sure why the FDA/DEA didn’t prevent the drug from being produced without Naloxone which makes it infinitely harder to get high from crushing the pill. However, it is clear prescribing any form of opioids have contributed substantially to the epidemic. I wish it had included more details of what should have been/could be done by which government agencies or citizen groups to curb the crisis and/or prevent future public health crises fueled by Pharmaceutical companies in the future. Really scary stuff.

[Trzcionka]

2022.06.16
Kończę na 157 stronie.
Miedzy innymi przez tę pozycję mam mega zastój czytelniczy. Nie mam ochoty do niej wracać, bo choć temat ciekawy to jest jakoś tak nijako napisana, że albo przysypiam albo odlatuje myślami gdzie indziej. Rys historyczny, czyli jak to wszystko się zaczęło, obejmuje 2/3 książki, a ja chyba wolałabym poczytać o efektach tego co się stało. Możliwe, że druga książka na ten sam temat ("Lekomani" B. Macy) jest lepiej napisana, a ja trafiłam (oczywiście) na tę gorszą i się kompletnie zniechęciłam, jeśli chodzi o poznanie tej historii.

[Leslie Jonsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories Barry tells in this 2003 book could be told today, of addiction, death, and a pharmaceutical companies desire to not take the blame for causing issues with abuse, misuse and dependence.

[Claire Valian · Rating 3 out of 5]

was going to apologize for how long this has taken me to read, but an old lady at the food pantry wearing a leopard print beret told me "never apologize" and just on principle i trust anyone wearing an animal print beret (a fatal flaw of mine, i know) so i am actually NOT sorry. anyway... it's incredibly fucked how establishments meant to protect public health have so consistently failed us. nothing happens until the pile of bodies is so large that you can't not do anything and even then it has be the the "right" group being affected. they killed it though with their marketing. like ethics aside, purdue has really opened my eyes to what being a marketer is all about: lying!!! i hope i can make them proud. arthur sackler is my new idol. i have his picture in my locket as a reminder to always continue to market something, regardless of the fact that you're creating a deadly opioid epidemic!! also! i really think the author is a funny guy, but his editors just didn't let him shine like that but i could sense it and i wish they let him have more fun

[Katy]

I received my copy free through Goodreads Giveaways

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was definitely an interesting read. gave a lot of behind the scenes stuff that goes w big pharma. companies still be pushing tho drugs on drs but least it’s not purdue

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book originally came out in 2003 when the opioid epidemic was ravaging parts of America that most American's didn't seem to care about. It's evident by the fact that people seemed shocked and surprised when news that there was even an opioid epidemic started appearing in above the fold headlines in the late 2010's. The book did so poorly when initially released in 2003, it went out of print and the publisher sold the rights of the book back to the author. The book was rereleased in 2018, updated with everything that's happened since the initial publication. The author, Barry Meier knew he had to add on to and re-release the book when he came upon previously confidential US Department of Justice documents as well as mounting evidence that Purdue executives were covering-up and actively misleading the public of the abuse and addiction potential of OxyContin.

Many other books dealing with the opioid crisis has come out in the last few years. Beth Macy's Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America dealt with specific lives impacted by the epidemic. Sam Quinones's book Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic dealt with the dealers and cartels who sold Oxy and other opiates on the streets. This book focuses specifically on the role Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers played in lighting the match that started the entire epidemic; and how they stoked the flames of the epidemic for years because they valued profits over the lives of people.

The story of Purdue Pharma is one of corporate greed and the consequences that has on an unsuspecting populace. It's a story of the marriage of corporations and politics over the well being of the public. It's a story about how data can be skewed and twisted to push an agenda and the actual facts and science are pushed to the wayside. It's a very American story of capitalism over healthcare.

It's unfortunate that Meier's book wasn't well received when it first came out, and it's unfortunate that the NYT made Meier back-off on investigating and writing about it when they were pressured by Purdue. And though it's too late for many people, the story of Purdue and their role is out and the company itself has been brought to justice - a semi-conciliation I suppose, since the people who profited are still free and rich.

What Purdue and the Sackler's did to amass their vast fortune is unconscionable. This is a book that'll make anyone's blood boil, however, I do think that people should read it. It's important to see how they were able to promulgate their lies unchecked, how they were able to entice allies in high places, how they were able to squash any opposition from experts. It's something that happens over and over again, but this is a case where it finally affected enough people in the "right" group - people who the media isn't inherently skewed or biased against, so that it could all come out to the open.

It's a hard book to review in the sense that there is a clear sense of where the 2003 book ends and the additional chapters begin. It seems a lot of the story in between the two is lost. Did I expect the author to go full bore and basically write a second book on top of the first book? I don't know. But it's clear that there is significantly more work put into the initial book.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator did a good job. This is a book that works well with the medium of audiobooks, as it would have fit just fine as a segment on a radio show or an investigative news show - except just really long. It's an example of investigative journalism at it's finest.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the only major opioid book I hadn't read yet. It was great to read this alongside watching Dopesick as major developments are given a paragraph and without close reading can be easily missed (this is on me, not the author). I would say this book is a great place to start if your interested in learning how this epidemic all started, but Dreamland by Sam Quinones is the book I feel I learned the most from concerning this crisis.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great book about the history of the opioid crisis. I’ve read a lot about this topic so some of the information in this book was not new to me but it was presented really well and there was also stuff that was new to me that was very interesting. I thought this book was very well written and very accessible to everyone. I would definitely recommend it.

[Colin Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important and still relevant book about the myriad of agendas and movement behind the scenes that led to the current opium crisis.

[Christina Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish everyone would read this.

[Colby Cheshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh my gosh my review which was like several paragraphs for deleted fumingggg

basically, this is an important and powerful read, but it was constructed haphazardly. i appreciate that there are many dimensions to a story as complex as oxy’s history, but it felt like I was reading more many vignettes than a single, cohesive story.

i am left questioning my own views on drug control. while I still agree most generally with a move towards decriminalization, at the very least on the part of the purchaser or consumer, it seems evident to me that many drugs, particularly designer opiates, should be tightly regulated. would also be interested to read about the difficulty of designing oxy with endogenous naloxone, which seems like something they should have done from the beginning. I feel like that’s the obvious giveaway that they WANTED to induce the opioid epidemic.

this is also really a story of how ~the system~ fails us all of the time. Industry groups, local activists, the government— no one really got their act together in time. to me, this speaks to the urgent need for a significantly more hawkish FDA and a DEA that is aggressive against big pharma. it’s actually so blatantly wrong that the leaders of purdue would have to serve no prison time while people who sell WEED are actively incarcerated. we should all be upset.

however, the local activism was a powerful catalyst for a crackdown, even a toothless one. vote in local elections and pay attention, people!

[Crystal FloridaGrams Of3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have lost many friends and family who got taken because their doctors thought Oxy and Roxy were not as effective as the other pain medication and that it was less addictive. Yeah, that's a lie! My sister in law stole prescription pads while pregnant with her third child, and she got so bad she had to move to another state to receive hardcore medication again. This coming Christmas will be two years, and she has suffered from this for over twenty years. It literally destroyed both my birthplace and my adopted home of Florida.
Then I watched the Netflix series and had my heart pulled out because I saw it firsthand my life.

[April (whataprilreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5✨

Lots of detail, lots of research. As someone with a growing professional interest in the opioid crisis and now, how the country recovers and how settlement funds are prioritized and utilized — this is a very important read. I guess what I really want, and will never get, is why? Aside from greed, some of the actual marketing tactics and especially those connected to bonuses seem so insidious. I just wonder why? (And that will make me spiral so I won’t wonder too long)

I’m glad I gave this a listen and would be happy to have it on my shelves one day. I’d definitely recommend this and potentially watching the Netflix series if you’re ever curious about opioids and their destructive history in the US.

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