Paul Adams - Summary of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

Summary

of

Dopesick

Beth Macy

Conversation Starters

By Paul Adams

Book Habits

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Introducing Dopesick

D

opesick: Dealers, Doctors, and The Drug Company That Addicted America tackles the opioid crisis in the United States. Prior to the knowledge that opioid drugs were highly addictive and potentially fatal, doctors were taught to ensure that their patients were not in any amount of pain or suffering. They were taught to quickly alleviate their patient's pain. In Dopesick , author Beth Macy shares research on why that approach to medicine was not the best way to approach patient pain. This method of treating patients led to countless deaths. It also led to marginalized individuals becoming addicted to pain medication.

In Dopesick , Beth Macy looks at the region of Appalachia in the United States. This area is known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Business owners do not want to put their businesses in this region now because it will be difficult for them to find many workers who will be able to pass the required drug tests. People living in this region feel as though they have been forgotten. These Americans are dying at rapid rates in young ages due to their addictions to prescription pills. Unfortunately, those who are still alive and addicted have earned the nickname pillbillies.

One of the stories told in Dopesick is that of Dr. Art Van Zee. Dr. Art Van Zee is described as someone with a soft-spoken mannerism. He grew up as the son of a minister in Nevada. Dr. Art Van Zee is trying to get OxyContin off the market in the United States, at least until the drug can be reformulated. He is also trying to help the patients that come to him, many of these patients have used different methods to trick doctors into giving them the painkillers they were addicted to. One woman describes how she would prick her finger when doing a urine sample. She would drop the blood from her finger into the urine sample. This would help her convince the doctors to give her a prescription of a powerful painkiller. Other stories we get to hear about are of one man who traded his mule in order to get drugs so he could get high, a cheerleader who would frequently snort OxyContin in a library, and the numerous families who are grieving the loss of those who have died as a result to their addiction to opioid drugs.

Macy then takes the story beyond Appalachia into Stamford, Connecticut where the drug company, Purdue Frederick, is located. Purdue Frederick was bought by three brothers Raymond, Mortimer, and Arthur Sackler in 1952. These three brothers turned this small pharmaceutical company into a giant corporation that manufactured two well-known painkillers OxyContin and MS Contin. Purdue Pharma even went so far as to purchase information from a data-mining company. From this information, they were able to pinpoint which doctors were most responsive to the marketing Purdue put out. Then, they sent their sales representatives to those doctor's offices to further push the sales of these painkillers. It is estimated that, over the past two decades, over 200,000 people have died as a result of taking opioid drugs.

The Sackler Brothers were recently exposed by a photographer named Nan Goldin. In 2014, Goldin was diagnosed with tendinitis. She was given a prescription of OxyContin in order to help with the pain of the tendinitis. It did not take long for Goldin to become addicted to these pills. Eventually, she was scouring the black market for OxyContin after her doctor refused to give her any more of the drug. Goldin made the choice to go to rehab, and since getting out of rehab, she has been the leader of many protests against art galleries who have received money from The Sackler Brothers. Goldin says that she has no idea how The Sackler Brothers are able to live with themselves knowing what they have done to the lives of so many Americans.

Looking toward the future, Beth Macy shares that those studying medicine are not taught to look at pain as another vital sign for their patients anymore. Now, the medical field has seen an emergence of using a brain scan that can provide a more accurate measurement of how much pain a patient is in. The latest generation of doctors is taught to take a different approach to alleviate pain. They do not focus solely on taking away all of the pain for their patient. Instead, they are taught to help the area become more mobile to relieve pain. Above all, they are taught to put the biggest emphasis on improving the patient's overall quality of life. Though large improvements in the medical field have been made, there is still a long way to go. Doctors are still, unfortunately, prescribing painkillers to patients for quick pain relief, even with the latest information about how dangerous they can be.