Journalist Beth Macys new book, "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America", has been getting a lot of good press, prepublication. Now that the book has been released, readers can see the vastness of these drug problems, as concentrated in the back roads and suburbs and downtowns of Virginia. The problem is opiods and the result of the problem of opiods has turned into an epidemic of addiction and death.

No parent wants to think the opiod crisis has hit their own homes and families. No, thats other peoples problems; the poor, the badly raised, the down-and-out, the truly addicted. But about 30 years ago, doctors and law enforcement in the backwoods of Virginia and in the towns as well, began noticing the overdoses and deaths. Tracing the deaths pointed to Oxycontin - a miracle drug made for late-stage-cancers - that were being prescribed over and over again by doctors either unwilling or unable to prescribe the right pain meds for the rigtht pain. Oxycontin was being pushed on doctors by its manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, which is owned by the Sackler family. ("The New Yorker" had a bombshell report about the Sackler family, their philanthropy, and Purdue in their October 20, 2017 issue thats worth getting your hands on if interested.) Macy covers a court case where Purdue was sued by various state governments for its pushing of Oxycontin and their other pain products. The company was convicted and the three company officials received sentences of community service...

But Beth Macy keeps asking the questions in her book. Why are people of all ages getting addicted? How many families are destroyed by having children - or parents - as addicts? Does the fact that many addicts have taken Ritalin and other AHAD meds before becoming addicted to Oxy and other drugs? How many stays in rehab does it take to break an addiction? There seem to be as many questions as there are addicts.

Beth Macys book is a very, very readable book about a major problem, which began in the central Appalachia area of I81 Virginia, and has radiated out to all of us.

In 2012, author and investigative social journalist, Beth Macy began writing about the worst drug (heroin) epidemic in world history. “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and The Drug Company That Addicted America” began in the hills and valleys of Appalachia, the mid-western rust belt, rural Maine before rapidly spreading throughout the U.S. In 2016, 64,000 Americans perished from drug related causes and overdoses-- outnumbering the total of those killed during the Vietnam War. Macy explored the terrible destructive impact on society, those who have helped and harmed, and the brave individuals sharing their own stories of tragedy and loss, casting aside stigma and shame to alert and help others.

In the late 1990’s, Appalachian country doctor (St. Charles, Virginia) Art Van Zee M.D. was among the first to sound the urgent alarm how OxyContin had infiltrated his community and region. Patients were admitted to hospital ER’s in record numbers from drug related causes. Rates of infectious disease including Hepatitis C, along with petty and violent crime had increased substantially, a police car was fire-bombed—addicts were desperate for cash to support their drug habit, an elderly patient had resorted to selling pills from his nursing home bed. Van Zee called public meetings to advocate and alert others of the opioid health crisis, and didn’t hesitate to file complaints against Purdue Pharma for aggressive marketing campaigns promoting OxyContin. By 2001, he and Sister Beth Davies were attending two funerals per day of the addicted dead.

In 2007, with over $2.8 billion USD earned in drug profits, Purdue Pharmaceuticals was found guilty in federal and civil criminal courts for their role/responsibility for creating the opioid epidemic, for “misbranding OxyContin”: with aggressive marketing techniques that downplayed and minimized the potential for addiction. The $600 million USD fine was worth the risk for Purdue; the executives charged were forced to listen to victim impact statements, and were compared to Adolf Hitler and the mass destruction of humanity, yet these men served no jail time. Both Doctor Van Zee and Sister Davies were outraged that none of the fine was allocated for drug recovery and addiction programs. Instead, it was appropriated for Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement and for criminal justice and law enforcement.

Macy documents the vast suffering, heartbreak of the families, friends, medical staff and first responders, the foster parents, clergy left behind to carry on after destruction and death had taken its toll. The closed down factories, lumber mills, furniture manufacturing warehouses and stores, coal mines-- jobs that had once sustained the middle class were grim reminders that for the average American-- life would never be the same again. Some desperate families impacted by “the disease of despair” had lost life savings attempting to pay for costly drug rehabilitation programs for loved ones, only to realize addiction was a lifelong process and the likelihood of relapse might be a day away. Providers of rehab facilities were not in agreement over MAT (medication assisted treatment) though medical experts contend that MAT is absolutely necessary to battle the intense cravings of addiction and increase the rates of successful treatment.
Many of the stories were harsh and brutal. Too many politicians and policy makers believe addiction is a personal moral failing and criminal offense rather than a treatable disease that robs victims of their dignity and freedom of choice. Macy’s book easily compares to Sam Quiones outstanding award winning book “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic” (2015). Macy is the author of the bestselling “Factory Man” (2014) and “Truevine” (2016). ** With thanks and appreciation to Little Brown and Company via NetGalley for the DRC for the purpose of review.