The Opioid Epidemic


After facing several lawsuits in multiple states for allegedly contributing to the opioid crisis, Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in September 2019. The opioid crisis has resulted in a country ravaged by corporate greed and betrayed by some of its own elected officials, following the aggressive promotion of OxyContin, a highly addictive drug from family owned pharmaceutical giant, Purdue Pharma. Purdue worked closely with the FDA to get the highly profitable pain medication approved for wider use, promoting its safety without sufficient evidence, and creating a campaign to redefine pain and how we treat it. When government regulators or Justice Department officials tried to mitigate the wrongdoing, Purdue Pharma and companies like Cardinal-Health that were huge opioid distributors would settle the cases, keep the details private and continue on unabated.

  • His search led him to Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett, who ran a pain management clinic in New Orleans and wrote most of the prescriptions that patients brought to the pharmacy.
  • Schneider started cautioning customers, who often did not show signs of chronic illness or pain, that the drugs they were prescribed might be too strong for their ailments.
  • Ben is Back sees Julia Roberts as a mother coping with the sudden return of her 19-year-old addict son on Christmas Eve.
  • “I encourage all Oklahomans watch this gripping documentary that covers the many tragic aspects of the crisis and how it impacts all of us.

Jan Rader, deputy chief of the Huntington Fire Department, fights for funds to buy naloxone, an opioid antagonist that helps overdose victims start breathing again. Briskly maternal Necia Freeman is a local realtor who moonlights as founder of the Brown Bag Ministry, giving free food and advice to prostitutes on the streets of Huntington. Judge Patricia Keller of the Cabell County Drug Court wields her gavel to keep recovering addicts on the path to sobriety. Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking experience of meth addiction through an at times tense, at times touching father and son relationship over the years. Ben is Back sees Julia Roberts as a mother coping with the sudden return of her 19-year-old addict son on Christmas Eve. Arizona officials are helping pharmacists and consumers safely get rid of old and unused prescription pills via take-back events, bins and more.

Not willing to lose any more sons and daughters, Schneider tapes conversations and begins a fight against Big Pharma. This four-part miniseries premiered on Netflix and was directed by Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason. Zinnia Health compiled a list of 10 documentary films and docuseries that explore the opioid epidemic. The film examines the life and career of Goldin and her efforts to hold Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, accountable for the opioid epidemic.

But I think that what’s disconcerting is that people died of overdoses at Webster’s clinic. And so many people were dying that it caused the medical examiner to look into it and ultimately caused the DEA raid on the place. Dr. Lynn Webster, whom Gibney talks about in the interview, responds to NPR that he or his colleagues have treated thousands of patients over more than 30 years. «Tragically, some patients died not because of treatment, but in spite of it.» Webster says millions suffer from chronic pain, which is its own crisis. «For a subset of the chronic pain population, opioids can be effective without incidence of abuse or overdose. Moreover, opioids represent their only hope where no other options exist.»

Eventually, Schneider found Shane Redding — a nearby resident who said she had witnessed the crime. Redding revealed that the killer was, in fact, Jeffery Hall — the initial eyewitness. After the event of Hurricane Sandy in the town of Brick, New Jersey a local by the name of Kayden MacGeraghty befriends a pharmacist who will eventually be the cause of a statewide heroin and opioid epidemic. A searing indictment of Big Pharma and the political operatives and government regulations that enable over-production, reckless distribution and abuse of synthetic opiates.

‘Do No Harm: The Opioid Epidemic’

For specific questions about your health needs or that of a loved one, seek the help of a healthcare professional. «All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,» Laura Poitras’s epic documentary about photographer Nan Goldin and her activism against the Sackler family and their art connections has been awarded the Golden Lion for best film at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. How a drug company made millions pushing an opioid painkiller up to 100x stronger than morphine, as many on Wall Street looked the other way. This 2017 STAT documentary, directed by Alex Hogan and Matthew Orr, explores the heroin crisis in the suburbs of Boston through Hogan’s group of childhood friends.

Hurwitz presents himself as a caring and trusting doctor who helped his patients by dispensing pain-management drugs—and who was duped by those who sold the medications he prescribed on the black market. Audiences are also presented with evidence to the contrary, a five-year prison sentence for the good doctor and two trials for distribution of narcotics. Feelgood” and seems at ease giving viewers access to the whole story and the many sides of Hurwitz. “The Pharmacist” is the story of pharmacist Dan Schneider, who works to find justice for his son, killed while buying crack. Schneider then realizes young people are coming to his pharmacy with prescriptions for high doses of the powerful opioid OxyContin.

Warski Live (2017– )

According to Schneider, the prescriptions were similar, often prescribing 40 mg or more of OxyContin along with other medications like Xanax and Soma (taken together, the combination of drugs was known as the “holy trinity”). Cleggett, described as running a “pill mill,” was one eco sober house boston of several doctors around the country who sold prescriptions for such drugs for profit. Vast numbers of Americans have turned to heroin in the aftermath of a crackdown on prescription painkillers. The first season of this Showtime documentary focuses on the opioid epidemic.

Created in association with the Center for Investigative Reporting and directed by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon, the film is Oscar- and Emmy-nominated. MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff investigates the role synthetics have played in the deadliest drug crisis in American history in this roughly 45-minute documentary, aired in 2017. One Nation, Overdosed profiles the rise of fentanyl, a potent synthetic heroin analog, in Dayton, Ohio, briefly touching on each of the major events that led to a recent rash of overdoses in the midwestern state. Almost every year, more people die of opioid overdoses than in the year before. More than a half-million people have died from prescription painkillers, heroin and illicit fentanyl since 1999.

Louis Theroux: Dark States – Heroin Town

Woven together, the character-driven stories form a larger narrative of shocking corruption. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention breaks the opioid epidemic into three waves. The first wave began with the introduction of OxyContin—the highly addictive painkiller made by Purdue Pharma and introduced in 1996—and an increase in prescribing opioids. Goldin made the connection between the opioid crisis and the Aids crisis of the 80s. “There’s 10 million people in the world that still have Aids … Aids phobia killed so many people, and it killed my community.

Central to the series is Dan Schneider, a pharmacist living in St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana, a community located southeast of New Orleans, who becomes an unlikely hero. The beginning of the series focuses on the devastating death of Schneider’s son, Danny Jr., who was fatally shot at the age of 22 while trying to buy crack in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward in April 1999. The Dark States trilogy peaked with an audience of 3.1 million viewers and a 12.2% share , making it one of BBC Two’s top ten titles for the year to date (1 January – 22 October 2017).

Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 66,000 people died of an opioid overdose in the U.S. in the 12 months to September 2020, a huge jump from the previous 12 months. Purdue Pharma was the subject of Hulu’s 2021 series, “Dopesick,” which focused on the company’s knowledge about OxyContin and how it pushed its sales reps to convince doctors the drug was not addictive. The Food and Drug Administration backed Purdue and set the stage for the drug epidemic that took a hold of the nation.

  • A complex scheme to defraud the insurance companies existed side by side with fraudulent marketing tactics while lawmakers continued to turn a blind eye to the implications of a complex pipeline that delivers billions of pills around the country.
  • It’s also debuted a handful future best picture winners like «Nomadland,» «The Shape of Water» and «Birdman.»
  • Watch full seasons of exclusive series, classic favorites, Hulu Originals, hit movies, current episodes, kids shows, and tons more.
  • The media has become actively involved in highlighting the opioid epidemic in the United States.

This blog is for informational purposes only and should not be a substitute for medical advice. We understand that everyone’s situation is unique, and this content is to provide an overall understanding of mental health disorders. These disorders are very complex, and this post does not take into account the unique circumstances for every individual.

Sort by Popularity – Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword «opioid-epidemic»

Also on the main jury were Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo («The Inner Cage») Argentinian filmmaker Mariano Cohn («Official Competition») and Rodrigo Sorogoyen («The Candidate»). The settlement between Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, and the federal government is the latest in a battle over who is responsible for the nation’s opioid crisis, as covered by FRONTLINE in «Chasing Heroin» and «Opioids, Inc.» A record number of drug overdoses, an increase driven at least partially by synthetic opioid use.

The in-depth documentary explores the public health crisis in Oklahoma from its origin to steps the state is currently taking to stem the epidemic. The series is presented by Fighting Addiction Through Education and produced by Lampstand Media. Current and recovering opioid users who started with prescription pills detail what it’s like to live with addiction. Many well-known companies in health care have been involved in manufacturing and distribution of opioids, including Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt, Endo International, Allergan, Teva, McKesson, Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, CVS and Walmart. In naming Hall and taking the stand in the murder case, Redding risked her life and had to be placed in witness protection. Hall, the son of Redding’s best friend, was 15 years old when he killed Danny Jr.

opiod documentaries

She became terribly addicted to opioids as a result of prescription of a number of narcotics. Her husband became terribly concerned and she died of an overdose not too long after. The series takes viewers to the epicenter of America’s struggle https://sober-house.net/ with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma, to a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA. Perhaps the most painful part of Recovery Boys is seeing the lack of effective care for recovering drug users.

Learn about the correlation between Arizona’s opioid epidemic and the state’s growing treatment and rehab industry. Learn about the science behind opioids, how they interact with the brain, and what happens during addiction and overdose. But we do know that a number of senior prosecutors in the Department of Justice found this 120-page prosecution memo extremely convincing.

Journalist Investigates ‘Crime Story’ Of The Sackler Family And The Opioid Crisis

The Netflix documentary “Heroin” which was released in the fall of this year, looks at the opioid crisis through the lens of 3 women in Huntington, West Virginia who have dedicated their lives to fighting this growing epidemic. Huntington has been depressingly dubbed the “Overdose Capital of America”, due to its overdose rate ten times the national average. The opioid epidemic has been ravishing through the United State of America since the 1990’s and it has been worsening over the years. Opioid prescriptions have skyrocketed and approximately 80% of new heroin users became hooked after beginning to take opioid prescription pain medications for nonmedical reasons. Opioid prescriptions are being sold on the black market, stolen from doctors’ offices and even sold by doctors for a large fee.


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