Hulus Dopesick pounds Purdue Pharma for role in opioid crisis

Last week, NPR TV critic and Duke University associate professor Eric Deggans hosted a Twitter Spaces discussion on Hulus Dopesick, asking tough questions, such as whether Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family were responsible for their roles in the Are or are not responsible for opioid crisis.

The private company Purdue Pharma of the Sackler family introduced OxyContin® in 1996, heralding a new era of high-performance pain relievers. Documents released last year show Purdue Pharma actively pushing for more pain reliever prescriptions.

Has the opioid crisis improved? Absolutely not. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a “record high” of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in March 2021, mostly led by opioids. It is a complex problem as opioid restrictions due to the crisis are also preventing people in actual pain from receiving their medication.

The limited series on Hulu was created by Danny Strong and consists of Michael Keaton, Rosario Dawson, Peter Sarsgaard and William Jack Poulter. Keaton plays Dr. Samuel Finnix, who found himself in the middle of a crisis between drug manufacturers and patients. The limited series is inspired by the New York Times bestseller Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America, written by author Beth Macy.

I hosted a Twitter Spaces talk on Hulu’s Dopesick series, with writer Beth Macy, showrunner Danny Strong, and more. Among the questions: Was Richard Sackler, CEO of Purdue Pharma, really that bloodless? Was Michael Keaton’s character based on a real person? Answers: https://t.co/pN42pPeRtl

– Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) November 8, 2021

Macy’s book and the accompanying Hulu series deal with the opioid crisis, with a particular focus on Purdue Pharma. The first three episodes of the eight-part series were released on October 13, 2021, and the latest episode aired on Wednesday.

Who is to blame for the opioid crisis?

The New Yorker tore the Sackler family’s reputation in 2017, calling the Sacklers “the family who built an empire of pain,” adding that millions have died from their “ruthless” pain reliever marketing.

There has been massive billing in recent years. Last year, the Justice Department announced that Purdue Pharma agreed to plead guilty to three counts in federal court in New Jersey, for a settlement of a whopping $ 8 billion.

“Prescription opioid abuse and diversion has contributed to a national tragedy of addiction and death, in addition to those caused by illegal street opioids,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen. “With criminal admissions of guilt, a federal settlement of more than $ 8 billion, and the winding up of a company and reallocation of its assets entirely for the public good, the resolution reaffirms in today’s announcement that the Department of Justice will not give in in all its diversity – intensive efforts to combat the opioid crisis. “

The Sacklers themselves were fined $ 4.5 billion but were able to acquit themselves of some of the allegations. Judge Robert Drain of the US Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, called the results bittersweet because so much of the Sackler’s assets were diverted to offshore bank accounts.

Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson and the “Big Three” – McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health – agreed a total of $ 26 billion for their role in the opioid crisis.

The flow of opioids that eventually leads to fentanyl and other pain relievers can be traced back to Purdue Pharma’s brand of oxycodone.

Cast as the villain

At first glance, the end of big pharma juggernauts like the Sacklers doesn’t seem to account for much. “Abuser [of OxyContin] are not victims, ”wrote Richard Sackler in an email in 2001. “You are the culprit.”

However, Deggan’s discussion asked whether or not, given the complexity of the situation, the Sacklers should be cast as villains. He participated in the Twitter Spaces discussion with NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann, Dopesick writer Beth Macy, Dopesick series creator Danny Strong, and others.

“There’s so much to be done, and much of it comes right under the umbrella … unraveling the war on drugs,” Macy said. “We [should] Start treating people less like criminals, stop pounding abusers like Richard Sackler told us to, and treat these people as people with a real illness for what they are. “

Hulu’s series portrays Richard Sackler and his family as the main villains, but the series mixes some facts with fiction. Deggans claims that the reality is a little more complex and that the opioid crisis cannot be analyzed in black and white.