This book is extremely well researched and well written. It's a heartbreaking look at the opioid crisis and how if affects people. It's also a startling look at Purdue Pharma. This isn't an easy read but its a necessary one.

This book has taken me a long time to get around to reading. It’s just not a fun topic. And that is the problem with the opioid crisis. It is not a sexy epidemic that is the poster child people want to rally behind. I feel much more enlightened now that I’ve read this.

Way too technical and long for me. It was certainly an eye opening look at how Big Pharma has been responsible for much of the opioid addiction today. I learned much about how being dopesick is just as much a problem for families and users alike. Apathy from Big Pharma was unsettling.

A deeply researched and well-written account at ground zero of the opioid epidemic. Macy is a terrific journalist.

I started reading Dopesick by Beth Macy in August, and only finished reading in January because it was so heavy that I had to take my own sweet time. Its now April, and I finally feel ready to post a review after having a serious book hangover from how monumental this book really is.

I've hesitated because I couldn't find the words to sum up exactly how I felt and the weight of importance Macy's work has on the understanding of the opioid epidemic. The power structures, corruption, and disregard for humanity that lies behind what made opioid addiction so devastating is truly shocking. I was in disbelief through the entire book. Seeing these people who have totally different motivations and desires than me in action, doing their worst to the people around them was both fascinating and vile. So much of what happened in the beginning of the epidemic is around exactly where I live currently in NC and where I grew up in Northern Virginia/Washington DC. I drive down Interstate 81 every time I make the trip between these two places I call home, and to now know that it acts as the main vein of opioid trafficking will forever stick with me. I've made the trip multiple times since reading this book, and every time I drive on 81 I think about all the lives lost, my friends who have been affected by addiction, and those still fighting. The healthcare industry has their hands tied behind their back, and these people affected are a far cry away from the help they need.

Macy's work not only shines a light on those who are investing everything they have into resolving the spread and impact of this disease, but she also introduces us to the pawns behind the dealing and manipulation. Often times the drug dealers themselves are in the situation without much choice and have been manipulated by over arching powers, just like everyone else. What they do is still wrong but what this shows us is that the cycle will continue without reprieve until governmental systems address the underlying issues and hold the proper culprits accountable.

I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to understand the current political and pharmaceutical climate today. By far it is the best nonfiction book I have read in years.

What an enraging and heartbreaking read. Incredibly detailed, painstakingly researched dive into the origins and consequences of the current opioid epidemic. This should be required reading for everyone.

This is an incredibly well-written, incredibly important book. Unfortunately, I keep putting it down for far too long at a time and end up lost when I pick it back up. I may try a readthrough again at some point, but I need to put this away for now and focus on something else. Regardless, I will be recommending this to many people and may grab a physical copy myself.

This book was heartbreaking, to read about the opioid crisis in America and how easily it could be prevented really bummed me out. That being said, it was well written and good knowledge to have.

I am a member of the ALA Carnegie Medal Committee. This title made the 2019 Shortlist. The two medal winners will be announced on January 27, 2019, at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards event at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle.

4 stars Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown and Company for a chance to read this book. Published August 7, 2018.

For me this was a book that needed a bit of time, after reading, to be able to review it. The author Beth Macy is a favorite author of mine. I enjoy the way she lays her information out. Every book I have read by her was about a vastly different subject, but all were researched well and, although non fiction, were presented in a story-like offering.

Obvious by the title, this book speaks to the opioid scourge that is, and has been, striking destruction across the United States since the 1996 introduction of Oxycontin. This book covers the first onset by the Pharma Manufacturing Company to the latest remarks by U.S. President Trump and the various drug use bringing us to that point.

Pharma put the drug out for pain relief, doctors were ignorant of the addiction abilities and Pharma claimed that any addiction was minor in comparison to pain relief. Millions of pills went into unsuspecting hands. The Appalachian area was hardest hit. People were losing jobs, economy was at an all time low, depression was rampant. It was not unheard of for over 60,000 pills to be distributed in one week in this area. Martinsville Va had more Oxycontin prescribed than any other place in the United States. Teen football players were dying of overdoses.

These overdose deaths have gone on for years. In the last 15 years 300,000 deaths have been caused by the wrongful use of Oxycontin. That same number, 300,000 deaths, will happen again, within the next 5 years. By the year 2020 more deaths will have been caused by the overdose of Oxycontin than all deaths caused by HIV-Aids, since the beginning of the Aids epidemic.

Macy humanized this story by telling the personal battles of a number of people, both those addicted and the families of those who have passed. She chose the Roanoke area as her research grounds.

The word "Dopesick" refers to the sickness that a drug addict experiences when they are coming down off their drug of choice. This is the point in time that addicts are at their worst. They will usually do anything to get their hands on drugs to prevent that feeling. Hence, the circular trap - they are no longer seeking that 'high', but seeking a fix to prevent being dopesick.

This is one of those books that everyone needs to read since I doubt there is a person who has not been touched in some way by the opioid epidemic. Dopesick clearly lays out how the epidemic began and it's explosive spread throughout our society. Macy does not shy away from pointing out where current drug enforcement has failed and sometimes even made the situation worse. It's not a comforting read, but definitely a necessary one if we are going to get a more effective conversation going on what needs to be done.

So I’ve been trying to chug through Beth Macy’s previous book Truevine for probably the last 2 years. The research seems all over the place and some of it doesn’t seem relevant to the story at all. That being said....... THIS BOOK IS AMAZINGLY WELL WRITTEN! I was so skeptical. I truly was. But immediately I was drawn in to this harrowing and ugly story that I feel like everyone in our country is connected to somehow, through acquaintances, or friends, or family that are struggling with opioid addiction. I have to admit, I felt helpless the entire time I was reading this. I hope that with the popularity of this book, the awareness of this epidemic will spread to enough people to start demanding programs from their lawmakers, both locally, state, and federal.

Dopesick is a must-read book for everyone. The opioid epidemic has been making news headlines for the past few years in America, but nothing compares to reading this close up account of the detrimental impact it has been having on rural US communities for decades.

A roller coaster of emotion, Dopesick had me rooting for addicts to find a path to remission, while feeling heartbreak as person after person was claimed by the disease. Above all else, this book truly illustrates how addiction is a disease. I was infuriated reading about how doctors and Purdue Pharma influenced the epidemic and wanted to take little responsibility after the carnage was laid out in front of them. While there is still so far to go before the epidemic is under control, Macy gave me hope that there are possible paths to recovery for addicts and they are, albeit slowly, being adopted in the communities that need them the most.

It is no secret that the Opioid Crisis in America is growing and has reached emergency status, with disastrous results in communities everywhere. I personally have lost people I have loved to heroine overdose. It is something I think a lot about. I keep Noloxone in my desk at work.
Beth Macy started looking around in her own community, Roanoke, VA, and saw that people were getting addicted to pills and heroine, and overdosing at a staggering rate, and decided to take a deeper look into how we got here. She covers the advent of Oxycontin, the marketing that swore to doctors and patients that it was completely safe and low risk for addiction, the resulting lawsuits against Purdue, its manufacturer, and how the resulting spike in street value eventually led into people using Heroine.
She traced the activists doing their best to get heroine out of their communities and get help for those who are addicted, from a badass nun to mothers who have lost their children. More importantly, she developed relationships with the families of the addicted, and the addicted themselves. She talks about the barriers to treatment including the immense expense of rehab, the arbitrary 28 day rehab standard, the failure rate of abstinence only programs, and many sober houses and drug courts prohibition of medications like Methadone for outpatient treatment. The stigma associated with all of this is huge.
Beth Macy is a good storyteller (I really enjoyed Truvine), and the crisis is told with sensitivity and fury. It is clear that the Purdue knew the dangers of the drug, and pushed it to doctors as a way to eliminate pain and encouraged it to prescribe it heavily to keep patients comfortable.
This is a story full of tragedy that should be widely read despite its difficult topic. I am sick of watching my friends and community members die. I want to see real change where addicts are provided help rather than jail time and this book discusses the nuance of all of that.

I have lived a very, VERY sheltered life. Despite going through public school in America, I never saw drug use or was offered drugs by anyone. Or if I did, I was too naive to know what was being offered or what I saw. Seriously, sheltered. So I was of the very mistaken opinion that druggies were stupid, that they were the idiots who took drugs in the first place and that they deserved what they got. They should have known better.

This book pointed out to me that I am the idiot for not understanding that it doesn't always work that way, if at all. That sometimes, when drug companies want to make money, they snow/bribe doctors to push their pills and that many innocent people who trust their doctors, get hooked.

Big Pharma is evil, because the love of money is the root of all evil and pretty much all companies care about is money. Not the end user. This book shows just one instance of how Big Pharma being greedy has LITERALLY costs LIVES. Not just for the poor person who is now addicted to pain meds or the street equivalent, heroin, but also the families and friends that try to help them or deal with the consequences of addiction, the doctors, nurses, EMS who try and many times fail, to help those addicted, to the neighborhoods and other innocent people who are affected by the crime and OD'ing of those addicted. There are too many sad stories of people OD'ing while driving with their kids in the car.

This book is full of stories, of those who managed to stay clean by the end of the writing of the book, who went back and forth between clean and relapse and of those who didn't make it. Of their family members and loved ones who never give up, even after it's too late.

It takes a LONG time and a LOT of money to get clean. It takes months to years for the brain to start functioning normally again, after it's been hijacked by opioids. That takes time, money and it doesn't help that much of the treatment out there is only for a month, maybe two and that some use abstinence as the way to deal with it, while others use drugs that are less potent to help ween the person off of the drugs and that both camps argue with one another over which is the best method.

"Dopesick" isn't just the title of this book, it's also what someone going through withdrawl of opioids goes through when the body becomes addicted. Viciously sick. Out both ends, shaking, pain, it's horrible. It doesn't hurt that the first high is the best and many people "chase the dragon" looking for that elusive first high again.

For some reason, the drug doesn't want to let go. It causes pain when trying to drop it and promises the best pleasure ever if you continue to take it.

It breaks my heart. So many people out there hurting because Big Pharma wanted more money and doctors didn't know better or do any research on their own to make sure they weren't handing poison to their patients. Well, that's all they have been trained to do and the medical system we have doesn't encourage doctors to actually think about what they are handing their patients and many don't have the time. America's health care system is badly broken and until it can be fixed, we patients need to think for ourselves and be our best advocates. We shouldn't rely on our doctors or companies to take care of us.

I sound like I'm ragging on doctors, but they have LOTS of patients to have to take care of. They are only human, so things can slip through the cracks. It's not fair to place the burden on them to be super-humans that can fix all of our ills with a pill, while we do nothing about our own health. We should be partners with them in figuring out the best treatment for us and if they don't have the time to research a pill, we should be. We are the ones taking it, it affects us much more than the doctor.

That being said, they shouldn't be swayed by all-expense paid trips to Palm Springs and have a Big Pharma company "sponsor" their daughter's birthday party, topics also covered in this book.

This book is so important. For sheltered people like me with no clue, for those in the thick of it, to know they aren't alone. For legislators and the medical system, to change antiquated ways of thinking about addiction and treatment. For those who work for Big Pharma and the doctors courted by them, to realize that what they are doing, for money or through ignorance, is hurting the people in this country.

5, super important and should be required reading, stars. Seriously, read this book. It's sad, but also hopeful. When you name the problem, when you look it in the eye and acknowledge it is there, that's when it can begin to be dealt with. That is what this book does. It's removing the stigma of being addicted, addressing the problem in a humane way and shows that there is treatment and hope. Please, read this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I was so enthralled by this book. I often shy away from non-fiction because it can take me awhile to read over fiction. The author’s way of educating on this drug crisis was flawless. It’s heartbreaking to hear these real life family stories.

Macy's description and explanation of the opioid epidemic in the United States is one that can never be forgotten.
Beginning with the distraught accounts of parents who have lost children, the author delves into the greed of the pharmaceutical companies. The blame must also be placed on those doctors who prescribed the medications willingly knowing their patients's chance of addiction was quite high.
Macy does an amazing job of educating the public about this horrific blight on American society today. It is eye-opening whose message must be heeded.

I'll be honest with you, before I requested this book from Netgalley, I asked myself - do I really need to read a whole book about the opioid crisis? Seriously - what is there left to understand?

Well - let me tell you. There was a lot left for me to understand.

The author takes us from when opioids where first introduced and slowly shows us how it has turned into today's epidemic. From the first individuals who tried to raise a cry of alarm to the multitudes of professionals and families who band together to tell their stories of lost patients and loved ones to bring a focus to this devastating situation. This angered me over the influence of big pharma (surprise!) and made me sad to read about all these families who's lives have been forever changed by this drug.

This book was so well written. Once I started it, I could not put it down. The author really does have a talent for making this very readable.

At a minimum, I think every parent who wants to say "not my child" needs to read this. And really it is a good wake up call for anyone who wants to say "not in my community".

Bravo Ms. Macy!

I received this from Little, Brown and Co. via Netgalley.

Tl;dr: Dopesick is an outstanding, harrowing look at America's opioid epidemic. One of the best books of 2018.

Dopesick is a solid, thorough, thoughtful, and bleak look at America's opioid addiction problem.

Ms. Macy first started off writing about the deaths of young people who overdosed from heroin in Roanoke,Virginia, but she soon realized there was much, much more going on and a five year investigation that resulted in Dopesick began.

Dopesick, after a brief refresher on narcotics usage in America's history, starts with the introduction of Oxycontin, a reformulated version of an end-of-life morphine derived painkiller, in the 1990s.

Oxycontin's manufacturer spent millions of dollars promoting the drug, seizing the monent when medical patients began to be seen as consumers as well and aggressively touting it as safe, a new, nonaddictive pill that could be used not just for the gravely ill but for anyone in (or even about to be in) pain.

Its potential for abuse was clear from the start, and those that sounded alarm bells did so early and often. But they were in Appalachia, and their voices were largely ignored.

It wasn't until Oxycontin abuse, addiction, and death spread out to other areas that its safety was truly questioned.

It wasn't until teenagers and young adults from families living in suburbia--until kids with "a bright future"--it wasn't until they started dying that Americans started to notice.

Oxycontin was eventually reformulated to make it harder to abuse, and when that didn't work, it became a last resort prescription. Of course, by then, plenty of people were hooked. And those seeking to avoid the horrific withdrawal symptoms, the "dopesickness," turned to a drug that was, by then, cheaper and more readily available--heroin.

Dopesick charts all of this, and is extensively focused and well researched (the "notes" section of the book is impressively dense), but what makes it truly, extraordinarily, special is how well Ms. Macy weaves in personal accounts. There are a lot of them and they are almost all united in one aspect-- they are full of despair.

Americans tend to view opioid addiction as a sign of "weakness" or as something criminal when what those who are addicted suffer from is a disease.

Traditionally, thise who can (or who have family who can) afford rehab are sent to short term care clinics and then ushered into twelve step programs, even as it's been proven that they aren't that effective in treating opioid addiction, which requires more time than a month for the brain to rewire from the addicted state and frequently requires expensive medications designed to prevent relapse.

And those who can't afford rehab?

Dopesick traces the broken system that's overloaded, underfunded, and chronically unable to keep up. A system where it can take up to eight years for people to seek out and get the help they need.

Many don't live that long.

Dopesick ends with a look back at where alarm bells about Oxycontin first began, in Appalachia, and finds that since the drug was introduced it has made an ulready suffering area into a place where there seems to be no end to suffering in sight.

Dopesick is not a feel good read. There's no way to "fix" this problem, at least not quickly or easily, and it will haunt America for years to come. Ms. Macy's ability to shine a bright, unflinching look at this tangled web we've woven should be lauded.

This is one of the best books I've read in 2018, and it will haunt me for a long time. (I've had to type this review three times now because it keeps getting eaten. It's worth it.)

Do yourself a favor.

Read Dopesick.

Dopesick was eye-opening. The opiod crisis is truly heart-wrenching and this book humanizes the crisis in a way that hasn't been done in articles/books before. This book just might change your opinion on addicts.