Between 1999 and 2017, nearly 250,000 Americans died from prescription painkiller overdoses. This epidemic was caused by the aggressive marketing of OxyContin manufactured by Purdue Pharma.
Strong narcotic drugs, also called opiates, were once the last resort for people suffering from pain. But in a mammoth marketing campaign, Purdue claimed that the drug’s formula made it safer than traditional pills. Thanks to this, OxyContin has become the most frequently used painkiller. Those who abused it found that, contrary to the manufacturer’s assurances, the drug immediately released its narcotic load. Even in prescription doses, the drug has proven to be highly addictive. The company was aware of this, but concealed the truth from the US Food and Drug Administration, doctors and patients, deriving huge profits from the sale of OxyContin.
Barry Meier’s decades-long investigation sheds new light on the opioid epidemic. The author of the book reveals the true face of the pharmaceutical company and reveals shocking details of the fraud. He also reports on the Justice Department’s failed attempts to stop the epidemic and save thousands of lives. He wrote an epilogue especially for the Polish edition of the book. It presents the latest facts from the history of OxyContin and those who have made money from it over the years.
On August 10, 2023, the series “Painkiller” premiered on Netflix, based on the book by Barry Meier. Its heroes are the perpetrators and victims of the opiate epidemic and a lawyer who wants to discover the truth. The main roles were played by Matthew Broderick, Uzo Aduba and Taylor Kitsch.
Barry Meier “Killing pain. Empire of deception and the background of the opiate epidemic in the USA”, translated by Dorota Pomadowska, Poradnia K publishing house 2021 – Fragments of the book
Within thirty-six hours, nine bodies were found in Philadelphia, in locations just a few blocks apart. Five of them were discovered in homes. Two in cars. Another two were lying in the street. The oldest person was forty-two years old. The youngest is twenty-four.
The bodies bore names, but soon they would become mere statistics, figures swallowed up in a wave of fatal drug overdoses sweeping the United States. In 2016, 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. This number is equal to the population of cities such as Portland, Maine, Lynchburg, Virginia, Santa Fe and New Mexico. It is as if a plague had fallen on one of these cities within a year, killing all the inhabitants. In 2016, an average of 175 people died from overdoses each day, or seven deaths per hour. Nine deaths in thirty-six hours was not unusual.
In some hospitals, piles of corpses were piling up so quickly that forensic doctors and investigators could not keep up with their duties. Morgues were full and bodies were stored for days in specially rented refrigerated trucks until space became available. Many of the bodies were not autopsied, which was standard procedure in drug overdose cases. Even if medical examiners had time to perform autopsies on each victim, some did not do so at all. Professional associations that credential medical examiners have set a limit on the number of autopsies one doctor can perform in a year. In some regions with a high number of drug overdose deaths, doctors would exceed this threshold and face the risk of losing their license to practice. As a result, victims with used needles or pill bottles were buried immediately, without an autopsy. In 2016, the vast majority of these deaths (42,000) occurred as a result of taking so-called opiates, prescription painkillers or illegal drugs obtained from chemical compounds found in opium poppies or synthesized in laboratories.
The opioid crisis has become an integral part of everyday American life. Newborns, deprived of the drugs circulating in the bloodstreams of addicted mothers, are born in hospitals writhing in pain caused by opiate withdrawal. On the streets, police officers carry a new piece of standard equipment – a nasal spray with a drug that can save the life of a person suffering from a drug overdose. The impact of the epidemic is so overwhelming that for the first time in over twenty years, the life expectancy of white men in the US is beginning to decline.
Government officials are calling for emergency measures. President Donald J. Trump has established a special commission in the White House to propose specific solutions. Lawmakers are calling for tens of billions of dollars to treat addicts. Newspapers, magazines and television programs are full of reports about the devastation this epidemic has caused in smaller and larger communities.
All this interest seems to be about something new. However, this is not the case. Recently, a sample of the extremely potent synthetic opioid fentanyl came onto the market, resulting in an increase in deaths. But in the twenty years before 2017, more than 200,000 Americans died from overdoses of legal drugs that were manufactured by pharmaceutical companies and prescribed by doctors.
People have long been raising alarm about the increase in deaths related to prescription painkillers. Yet every year, politicians, lawmakers, regulators, medical professional associations and insurers make light of this tragedy, and the pharmaceutical industry downplays it. The consequences are tragic and easy to predict. Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids quadrupled in 2016 compared to 1999. A disaster that could have been brought under control by taking quick action turned into a hydra.
Every disaster, natural or man-made, has a beginning. In the case of an opiate crisis, it involves a drug called OxyContin. In the mid-1990s, when it first appeared on the market, it was hailed as a “miracle” drug that would transform the treatment of pain, humanity’s oldest and most bitter enemy. A determined group of activists have prepared the ground to welcome him, arguing that millions of people are suffering unnecessarily because of doctors’ exaggerated concerns about the addictive effects of prescription painkillers. Medical professionals used the term “narcotic” to describe the active ingredients in these types of medications, but proponents of more aggressive pain management were so anxious to remove OxyContin’s dubious associations with the term “narcotic” that they coined the term “opioid” to rephrase it.
OxyContin became the centerpiece of the most aggressive marketing campaign for the most powerful and potentially addictive drug ever undertaken by the pharmaceutical industry. Purdue Pharma, the drug’s manufacturer, invested millions of dollars in paying doctors to persuade them to prescribe OxyContin and claimed that it was not only more effective at treating pain but also safer for patients. Owned by one of the richest and most mysterious families – the Sacklers – Purdue would later earn billions from the sale of this drug (…).
OxyContin was not [jednak] no “miracle” cure, but it was the gateway to the most crushing public health disaster of the 21st century.
Kill the pain KERI ANDERSON/NETFLIX press materials
“Senior Night”
In the fall of 2000, downtown Pennington Gap was teeming with Oxy dealers. They stood on each corner holding up two fingers, which meant they had 20-milligram Oxy pills for sale, or four fingers, which meant they had 40-milligram pills. Lindsay Myers and her new boyfriend, Ray, a local auto mechanic eight years her senior, were regular customers.
Their Oxy addiction was costing them about $300 a day, and Lindsay quickly emptied her bank account to zero, but found another source of cash – a fireproof safe in her parents’ bedroom. Lindsay knew where the key was hidden and used it to open the safe. There were two metal packages that looked like shaving cream on the shelf. She took one of them in her hand and unscrewed the imitation bottom. Stuffed inside the container were loads of wads of hundred-dollar bills. “Great! Thank you, God,” she thought, taking out the banknotes. Soon she began regularly stealing money from the safe. One day when she went to collect the key, she discovered that someone had taken it.
Lindsay’s cash cut coincided with a football game on “High School Night” at Lee County High School, which was traditionally the Generals’ last game of the season. After the first half, the name of each player and cheerleader graduating from school that year was read over the loudspeakers. Then, each high school graduate, accompanied by proud parents, walked across the middle line of the pitch, rewarded with the applause of friends and neighbors.
“High School Senior Night” was scheduled for the evening during which Lindsay was expected to shine. She was a graduate and captain of the cheerleading squad. On the same day, while her friends were stomping, dancing and screaming at the top of their lungs during the pre-game academy, Lindsay felt as if she had the flu. She hadn’t taken Oxy in twenty-four hours and had been running back and forth to the bathroom all day. She knew she wouldn’t feel well until she took Oxy.
After the academy, she met up with Ray. He was broke, but he promised to call his brother and ask him to come up with $100 immediately. As soon as he got the money, he told Lindsay he would buy two 40-milligram Oxy pills and bring one of them to her.
A few hours later, during the game, Lindsay tried to cheer on the Generals while fighting nausea. As the half-time whistle blew, the girl scanned the stadium, hoping to spot Ray somewhere, but instead she saw her parents standing along the sidelines. It was a celebratory evening for them and they looked happy and relaxed as they chatted with other parents.
It was time to begin the ceremonial passage. Lindsay heard her name booming from the stadium’s loudspeakers: “Lindsay Myers is a senior and captain of our national girls cheerleading team,” the announcer said. “She is the daughter of Jane and Johnny Myers. She is seventeen.” Jane and Johnny accompanied a pained Lindsay across the stadium pitch. When they reached the sideline on the opposite side of the field, Lindsay pretended to be happy as her parents kissed her and told her how proud they were of her. As soon as they left, she anxiously scanned the stands for Ray. She finally noticed him walking down the stadium steps towards the pitch. He didn’t make eye contact with her, but continued walking towards the underpass under the stadium. Lindsay waited a few minutes before slipping away from the other cheerleaders to follow him. Ray was waiting in the tunnel, already high himself. He handed her a small package wrapped in aluminum foil containing a 40-milligram Oxy tablet. Lindsay went into a nearby bathroom, crushed the pill with her lipstick holder, snorted the powder, blew her nose, and ran back to the field.
Kill the pain – cover promotional materials – Poradnia K
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
