Book Review: Dopesick

By Gabriel Morley

The true irony of the opioid epidemic is that it is crippling America.

Drugs like oxycontin, which were originally intended to help relieve pain and suffering from chronic illness, have seeped their way into mainstream America to be abused by drug addicts. About 130 people died each day from an opioid overdose in 2018. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the economic burden of opioid misuse at $78 million annually.

In Dopesick, journalist Beth Macy chronicles the 20-year struggle America has had with opioid addiction. She highlights the beginnings of the epidemic in Central Appalachia to cities and suburbs throughout the country, sparing no one who had a part in the scourge. She calls out drug manufacturers who shirk blame, doctors who overprescribe in the name of customer service, and government officials who capitulated to lobbyists and refused to regulate prescription opioids.

The drugs create a powerful euphoria so powerful that abusers will do anything, including selling the family farm, to avoid its aftereffects. This feeling has been dubbed dopesick.

By focusing on the stories of real people affected by the crisis, Macys narrative is propelled forward in a kind of shocking alarm. A high school football player takes one pill and overdoses. A third-generation farmer gets hooked on oxycontin and loses not only his farm, his family, and his money, but also his dignity.

This touching account of the devastating effects of opioid addiction helps frame the discussion around addiction and how we can work together to prevent it in the future.