There are some things that U. S. citizens take for granted that would be unthinkable in most advanced societies. First is that Health Care is regarded as a privilege, not a right. Usually, having good or 'Great' health care is tied to one's employment. Lose that job, and you could be on your own. Second, if you are poor you might qualify for Medicare. Not great, perhaps, but far better than nothing. This is a government benefit, usually requiring the state to participate to some degree or another. Third, pharmaceutical corporations are allowed to advertise: in magazines, flyers, on-line, and on TV. This is absurd, because it distorts the marketplace. The medical profession itself is under enough pressure from pharmaceutical companies to prescribe this drug or that one - witness all the competition for drugs to reduce high cholesterol levels. The notion that doctors now need to cope with hordes of self-styled 'experts' demanding medications they only know about from glitzy TV promotions is ludicrous. Bottom Line: this sets the stage for what one very wealthy family, the Sacklers, who owned Purdue Pharmaceuticals were able to do with their power and influence. 'Dopesick' tell that story, and does it well. It is something that most of us are familiar with. A new 'miracle' drug to reduce pain comes on the market and is aggressively pushed by a large pharmaceutical company. In this case it is OxyContin. The Sacklers even manage to get the FDA to approve the Opiod and create a new label minimizing any harm of addiction - something that had never been done before. Please ignore all 'Low Ball' Reviews. This drama is extremely well done, and all involved deserve kudos. This never should have happened. But because of the underlying fault lines in the U. S. healthcare system, perhaps it was perhaps inevitable. Having seen the consequences of the Opiod crisis in West Virginia where I was living and working at the time, I can tell you that whole communities were gutted, hollowed out, and destroyed by what the Sackler family knowingly visited on the country. This is a story that needs to be told and I can confirm that 'Dopesick' is unflinching in its depiction of just how corrupt and difficult the whole ungodly triumvirate of Advertising, Big Pharma, and Corporate Power is to the pursuit of Justice in a country with its priorities not in line with its basic directive to protect its own citizens. By all means, watch this one.
