Dopesick

About the Book

Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of a national drama that has unfolded over two decades. From the labs and marketing departments of big pharma to local doctor’s offices; wealthy suburbs to distressed small communities in Central Appalachia; from distant cities to once-idyllic farm towns; the spread of opioid addiction follows a tortuous trajectory that illustrates how this crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched.

Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Macy sets out to answer a grieving mother’s question-why her only son died-and comes away with a gripping, unputdownable story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy investigates the powerful forces that led America’s doctors and patients to embrace a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm. In some of the same communities featured in her bestselling book Factory Man, 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, compelling, and unforgettably humane portraits of families and first responders determined to ameliorate this epidemic, each facet of the crisis comes into focus. In these politically fragmented times, Beth Macy shows that one thing uniting Americans across geographic, partisan, and class lines is opioid drug abuse. But even in the midst of twin crises in drug abuse and healthcare, Macy finds reason to hope and ample signs of the spirit and tenacity that are helping the countless ordinary people ensnared by addiction build a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

^{With sister Beth Davies ( center), a recovery therapist featured in Dopesick and anti-Purdue Pharma activist, and photographer Josh Meltzer, 2018.}

^{In 2018, Tess Henry’s mother and I searched the streets of Las Vegas, for a follow-up podcast to “Dopesick,” called “Finding Tess,” available on Audible. Patricia Mehrmann, right, is hugged by an activist who patrols the streets helping homeless women like Tess. Photo by Beth Macy.}

^{Sister Beth Davies, a drug counselor in far southwestern Virginia, was one of the first activists to protest the greed and discredited claims of Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin. In 2007, when officials from the guilty pled guilty to criminal misbranding of the drug outside a federal courthouse in Abingdon, Virginia, she carried a photo of a 19-year-old, Eddie Bisch, who died from the drug. (Top photo by Josh Meltzer. Photo on left courtesy of Beth Davies.)}

^{Public health professor Rob Pack and Dr. Steve Loyd (right) overcame NIMBY-ism to found Overmountain Recovery Center, a methadone clinic in Gray, Tenn. The Michael Keaton character in Hulu’s version “Dopesick” was based loosely on Loyd’s story. Photo by Josh Meltzer.}

Dopesick Comes to the Small Screen

A dramatized adaptation of Dopesick was released by Hulu as an eight-episode limited series on October 13, 2021, and elsewhere in the world via Disney+ in early November. The series stars the amazing Micheal Keaton, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hoogenakker, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Shot on location in Virginia, including parts of Appalachia impacted by the crisis, Dopesick examines how one company, Purdue Pharma, triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history. Series creator Danny Strong directed episodes, as did Barry Levinson, Michael Cuesta, and Patricia Riggen. Along with Strong and others, I was a cowriter on episodes three and seven and an Executive Producer on the series.

Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of a national drama that has unfolded over two decades. Macy sets out to answer a grieving mother’s question-why her only son died-and comes away with a gripping, unputdownable story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy investigates the powerful forces that led America’s doctors and patients to embrace a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm. In some of the same communities featured in her bestselling book Factory Man, 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.