December 15, 2022
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
A history and expose of the pharmaceutical company that was largely responsible for the opioid epidemic, Purdue Pharma, and the Sackler family, the family that owned the company. Although the Sacklers didn't discover or invent oxycodone, they were responsible for marketing OxyContin, their own brand of oxycodone, as a safe, non-addictive pain reliever. The company's sales force continued to push doctors to over-prescribe oxy through sales incentives and marketing campaigns for everything from back pain to menstrual cramps to toothache. The drug decimated rural and low-income areas in particular, and when the government began limiting the drug's availability, many users resorted to hard drugs like heroin.
First, let me say that oxycodone is a wonderful drug. I was prescribed oxy following surgery (which is how it is intended to be used) and it helped tremendously with post-operative pain. At that point, in 2021, oxy's addictive properties were well known, and even though I was prescribed enough oxy for seven days, I was encouraged to use it only when I really needed it (I stopped taking it after three days). It was criminal the way the Sacklers continued to push drug sales, long after they knew that people were dying from overdoses or moving on to stronger street drugs. It was unconscionable and indicative of a family that was morally deficit.
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